Choose To Be Chosen
by WolfMusic
Summary: Life's never been easy for Ari. When she unintentionally kills a man, she has a decision to make: end it all, or choose to be Chosen. Now, in a new life, in a place she never would have expected, things are happening. And not all of them are good.
1. Chapter 1: Established

**Chapter 1: Established**

Ariasha hugged herself to her knees, waiting for Danveer to come back. Her cousin – who she thought of more as a brother – had left to gather more provisions for the tavern one story above. Ariasha would have normally gone along with him. But instinct told her to stay put for today. She always followed that instinct. It was what had kept her alive on more than one occasion. Ariasha knew he'd only be a few minutes more. She could hear his thoughts and "speak" to him. To keep herself occupied, she eavesdropped on the minds of the people on the street, rather not knowing the thinkings of the tavern men.

:_ – Mama wanted three eggs, four ears of corn –:_

:_ – Did Baidy just leave the bakery with –_:

:_ – Gods, please let me find my little brother! – _:

The last Ariasha paid special attention to. Delving into different layers of the girl's mind, she found the face and voice of the boy she was worrying over. Ariasha passed over the mindvoices in all directions, looking for the one she hoped would be frantic in mindscreaming _I'm lost!_ When she did, she mindspoke gently – it was almost whispering – :_Gady – Gady, she's in front of the _Lantern Light Tavern: She then assured his sister, in the same tone, to wait where she was. She listened to them as soon as she was sure they had been reunited. Both shouted with relief. Ariasha smiled to herself, her heart lightened for however briefly it would last.

She could still remember a time when the voices overwhelmed her to the brink of insanity. It was a swarm of buzzing, but ten-thousand-fold louder than any hornet hive. She still had thin scars on her upper arms form self-inflicted wounds. Through her special form of hearing, Ariasha had learned more than just her own tongue – however crudely it had once been – and still was – spoken.

With this gods-given gift, she had came to somewhat understand people in general, and why they did the things they would. Many thirsted for power, wealth, fame, the lot of it. There were those who begged the gods for more than concrete to sleep on, or rotted food to make a meager meal. The humble, and yet the bitter.

Then there were those. The ones who looked upon all with kindness, compassion, and respect; whose only wish was to be of aid to those who truly needed them. That was why Ariasha secretly admired Heralds. They would even give their _lives_ if it would save another's. She couldn't imagine doing that for anyone _she_ knew. Except Danveer.

:_Ari? Can ye hear me?_: her cousin asked.

:_Jus' fine, Danny.: _she reassured him.

_:Good! 'M back, an' 'll be there scantly.:_

_:Savvy, Heart-sib.:_

Ari sighed and made her way to her feet, stretching. She waited some feet out of the door's range. Her sensitive ears heard Danny trek through the cellar entrance and down the stone stairway, ragged shoes making a soft scraping noise against the floor.

Danny swung the door open, his and Ari's meals in his left hand. Ari smiled genuinely at her caretaker, and Danny returned it with his own lop-sided grin. He walked in, closing the door and handing Ari the goods from inside his pockets: half a loaf of bread, two flasks of ale, and two red apples, courtesy of Lord Orthallen's pantry (as per usual). Ari's eyes widened in excitement at the prospect of the apples; she would never know why she craved them the way she did, hoarding them greedily whenever she acquired one. Not even Danny dared touch her when she had the crimson fruit – he was rather attached to the idea of keeping his fingers on his hands.

The Heart-sibs ate in silence, savoring every bite of the freshest meal they'd had in weeks, Ari sitting stretched-out on the floor, Danny leaning against the closed door. Ari looked at her coz. Standing, he was easily six-feet to her five-feet-four-inches. Gray-blue eyes sat on firm, sculpted cheek bones. Covering his eyes were slightly curled locks of soft brown that hung loosely about his forehead, ears, and neck. He was wiry, thin in the shoulders, chest and waist, though that didn't mean he wasn't muscled – which he was. But being muscled didn't mean being stone-solid, either. He was someone easy to physically – as well as emotionally – cling to. Which Ari still did. It was what she had been doing since her mother abandoned her.

Finished eating (even the core of the apple), Ari leaned against the wall and sighed in contentment. Danny grinned.

"Done good, 'ave I?"

"Oh, aye. I'd say so." Danny finished as well and situated himself so he was sitting next to Ari. Putting an arm around her he asked: " 'Ow fairs ye, me Wolf Pup?"

She considered it. "I fair right well, I s'pose." He pulled her into a loose embrace.

" 'M happy, then." He looked her in the eye, all seriousness. " 'M always here, Lass. Whenever ye may needs me." Ari tramped down the tightness in her throat. When she'd mastered it, she wrapped her arms around Danny tightly. She gradually lessened her hold as she Listened for the people upstairs, to see if her uncle had closed for the night.

Satisfied, she nodded once to herself. Even if Danny couldn't hear her unless she Spoke to him, he still knew what she was thinking. He knew her too well.

Making their way upstairs, they passed Skerry – Ari's uncle and Danny's father. Danny put a hand on her shoulder protectively. He stared down his father who was glowering at the girl, Danny daring him to even try something. Skerry mumbled to himself angrily, turning away from the two. They continued on upstairs and into a room in the back that overlooked the streets, facing east.

The Heart-sibs shared this room; Ari felt safer for it, and Danny could keep an eye out for her. That and there weren't any other rooms she would willingly go into. The staff and Skerry all assumed another happening was going on in their room, despite the fact that Ari was only twelve-years-old.

In their cramped little room lay two pallets, stuffed with old straw, the room's only furniture. Danny opened the window, the summer heat just now breaking into an autumnal gust.

Already settled, Ari asked: "Would you sing to me?"

Danny raised an eyebrow. "When 'tis _ye_ who should be a Bard?" She widened her eyes in her best impersonation of a starving puppy. Danny rolled _his_ eyes as he wriggled to find some comfort. He cleared his throat.

"Ahem. _My Lady's eyes are like the skies, a soft and sunlit blue –_" Ari promptly play-slapped him. "You know which song." She meant the song that he'd thought up himself, to get her to sleep when she'd been younger. Sighing, he began quietly, humming at first. He looked off at the wall, focusing on the lyrics.

When Danny finally looked at Ari, she had already fallen asleep.

This night, the same as every other before it, Danny bequeathed the gods.

_Please, _Danny begged them, _please let Ari be Chos'n! She des'rves so much better'n this!_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sapphire eyes gazed into her soul.

:_I'm coming, Beloved.:_

Ari awoke with a start. Dawn was peeking hesitantly through the grimy window.


	2. Chapter 2: Revealed

**Chapter 2: Revealed**

_Ari awoke with a start. Dawn was peeking hesitantly through the window._

She inhaled; and quickly regretted it. Someone had felt the need to relieve nature right under their window some time in the night. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she scrubbed at her face with calloused hands, looking over at Danny to see if he was awake. An arm rested over his eyes, breathing deep and easy. _Fig'res,_ she thought, rolling her eyes. An idea came to mind. Ari smiled as she positioned her hands directly above his ribcage, ready to drop. His hand shot out of nowhere.

"Don' e'en think abou' it, Lass. I know yer tricksy ways." Slightly put off, she took her hands back. Making a noise somewhere between a groan and a sigh, Danny stretched his elongated limbs and sat up, resting his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands. Running palms over his hair to flatten it, he looked at her. She raised an eyebrow. He shrugged, and scrutinized her expression.

"'ad anoth'r dream, did ye?" Ari nodded slowly, pondering nothing in particular. "'ave ye fig'red out what it means, yet?" She shrugged, rising.

"Nothin' too terrible, or I'da known by now." Danny agreed and rose with her.

"Right, then. Time fer some schoolin' on the Lass's behalf."

She sighed. "Wish you was still schoolin' with me, Danny. Damn you an' you're good figurin' abilities," she half-mocked. Ari _did_ wish Danny still went to the Temple of Belden. But he'd tried feigning his ignorance with numbers and failed miserably, being sent back to work at Skerry's by one of the novices, Novice Wiztoelt, a horribly vile and stout woman with unnaturally red, curly hair, cropped short on her head. Ever since Danny'd been had, Ari had been making the woman's life hell. Well, for as long as Ari was still physically _in_ the Temple. It was unwise to try anything outside of classes, especially in the neighborhoods surrounding Belden. But Ari favored prank classics, such as taking street mice and putting them in her robes as the unsuspecting novice made her journey about the room and between the benches. After a while – and more interesting trials of revenge-taking – Danny'd been called down by Priest Beel, where he learned of his coz's behavior. Ari had never felt so ashamed in her short existence, even though the woman _did_ deserve it. "Stop this horse-foolin', chil'! D'ya think I wan' ye t' be nothin', with no schoolin', an' no common sense?!" he'd yelled at her. Since then, Ari'd kept pranks to a bare minimum, only dishing something out when her temper ran short, which wasn't as often as it used to be. She practiced reigning her tongue and irritation, and had significantly improved in the last half-year.

_That's somethin' to be decently proud of, at least,_ thought Ari with grim humor. The Heart-sibs made their way down the slowly-rotting stairs, through the front of the scum-laden tavern. Luckily, Skerry wasn't conscious yet, meaning Danny could escort Ari to Temple, coming back to break a fierce sweat working for his pig of a father. Danny didn't even receive payment for his labor; he barely got the moldy food he split in half with Ari.

Not many were out and about at this time of morning. Those who worked were off by dawn, and those who didn't were most likely sleeping off the ill effects of too much beer, or a night of trysting with some stranger met only hours before. Various children scampered in front of Danny and Ari, rushing to get to their promised breakfast, an innovation instituted by Queen Selenay not too many years before.

The Heart-sibs took their time trekking, neither wanting to leave the other's presence right away. The Temple of Belden, however, was only some streets up from Skerry's _Tankard and Some_ Tavern. And Ari and Danny came to the entranceway as one child made a spectacular move – combined of a hop, a skip, and a jump – over the stairs and through the main archway. Danny whistled at the kid's acrobatics.

"Mus' be of th' circus folk," he quipped. Ari snorted in amusement.

"Aye. I'll be watchin' for him to start rope-walkin' whilst I'm in there, shall I?"

"As long's ye bring me _some_ form o' curious gossip, I'll be sat'sfied." Ari playfully punched his shoulder, taking a reluctant step towards the house of prayers.

"Tell th' animals I said allo." Ari twisted back and gave Danny a two-fingered salute. She didn't miss his wistful sigh as she turned her back to him.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Classes went as well as could be expected. The only memorable parts of the morning were breakfast – a buttered roll and a piece of fruit – and the reprimand Wiztoelt gave when Ari refused to admit she'd done something she didn't – dump donkey-reek on the novice's seat. Ari could've told the old bat who'd really done it, but Ari didn't want to deal with the boy and his friends coming after her for being a tattle. So Ari endured the punishment – thankfully avoiding cleaning the seat – and instead writing one hundred times _I'm a troublesome brat and will never amount to anything_ on the room's large blacked-board. She almost had half of it erased by one of the younger hoodlums, but heard him thinking over his plan as he snuck behind her when Wiztoelt had conveniently turned her head.

_Damned bat_, thought Ari as she walked the streets. The Midday Service bell had rung a candlemark before, signaling the end of Ari's torment. She still had some candlemarks to go before she needed to be back at the _Tankard and Some_, spending the endless sun's burnings by meandering here, moseying there, and generally staying out of the direct path of – well, everyone. Though she could still be found by those that wanted to find her…

_:Food?:_ a wandering tabby inquired of her. Ari squatted to give the creature a good rub behind the ears.

_:I'm sorry, no food.:_ The cat made a mental shrug as it stooped from her hand, and paced quickly along the alley-way. Ari was used to the brashness of cats by now. She much preferred dogs, who didn't seek food so much as a pair of feet to keep company with. Horses too were kindly creatures with a quick wit, and loved having their noses scratched. Ari secretly wished she could talk to a Companion, maybe even her own – but she couldn't dwell on this thought for long without feeling a pang of envy for the Heralds who'd been Chosen, Chosen out of places with much better standing than where Ari resided. Besides, Companions and their Heralds didn't come down to this part of town unless something was very amiss; kidnappings of upper-class children, or a court lady being lured down and then raped and murdered. Attention was only brought if someone _important_ was in the mix. Not little no ones without stake or claim to anything of value.

Ari spent a good while's walk mulling over these thoughts, occasionally meeting another cat or dog, and completely ignoring the donkeys, _Honestly called asses for a good reason_.

As the sun began completing its circuit, Ari made it back to Skerry's tavern, ducking in, and cloaking herself in Shadows. Besides having heavy talent reading thoughts, Ari could create Shadows out of nothing and from nowhere. She used them to hide herself in plain sight, basically becoming invisible. She still had to focus to get it _right_, though. The more she practiced, the easier it became. Unlike adding sums.

She spotted Danny as she remained Shadow-Cloaked. She eavesdropped on his mind, his face as stoic as any Ari'd ever seen.

_:Soon's I fin' some money, 'm takin' Ari an' scrammin'. Bast'rd.: _he thought toward his father, peeking at the man as Danny pretended to have his head lowered in respect. _:She's been gone 'while. She all right? Ari?:_ he called out to her.

_:At you're elbow, Coz.:_ Danny's right eye twitched, his telltale sign that he was spooked. It was an improvement over yelping, to be certain. He wasn't entirely accustomed to Ari's shadowy appearances, but he'd been making progress in the few moon spans since they'd learned of her newest talent.

"Ale-boy! More drink!" A suitably rosy-cheeked man banged his tankard.

"In a moment, _sir_," Danny mocked.

"Don't take that tone with me boy!" said the man, catching the boy's sarcasm.

_:Duck!:_ Ari commanded. Danny did so, just as the drunk's tankard fell short of the wall five feet in front of Danny, denting as it bounced on the floor. The room grew quiet. Skerry's face became a horrid mixture of red and purple, veins on his forehead standing out easily. Danny kept his façade of calm, breathing evenly and keeping his hands loose on the tray holding the beer jug rather than clenching them until his knuckles turned white.

Skerry made a threatening step forward. Ari growled menacingly inside his mind, sounding very so like the wolf Danny'd nicknamed her for. Skerry's eyes widened, his face now draining to a pallid white of fear. Off a ways, the door rattled, at first tentatively, and then harshly, sounding as though a horse were trying to ram it down. Realizing who it was coming from, Danny thought _:Ari! Ari, stop!:_ Her Shadow-Cloak had begun to flicker with her loosing of rage. Making an effort, Ari pulled herself together enough to solidify the Shadows again.

The customers were eyeing each other, some murmuring of a brawl outside, others of hidden Heralds among them. They settled, after a moment, the volume increasing again.

_:I'll help ya wait tables,:_ offered Ari quietly. Ari felt him nod in his mind, and walked silently to the stairs, mussing her hair along the way. She missed the days when she was smaller, when her locks had cascaded down past her backside. She couldn't wear it that long anymore. It just wasn't practical. After her ma left – and she'd had to come here – she learned right away how troublesome it was. It forever tangled and was caught on various objects. Danny'd finally taken a knife and sawed it off, and continued to do so presently, since her hair grew at two or three times the rate any _normal_ person's should. Looking forward to the day when she no longer needed it trimmed, she puffed herself up to look more masculine. Her breasts not being developed, Ari could easily pass as a scrawny boy that aimed to please his elders in the hopes of earning a table-scrap.

Skerry said nothing as Ari grabbed a pitcher and began refilling mugs. Skerry had learned his lesson about telling the other men that the kid doing rounds at the tables was really a girl. The men he'd told had given Ari looks that she refused to think about, or dig into their minds to decipher what exactly they meant by it. Danny had seen the looks. He didn't need mental abilities to see what they had planned for his sweet cousin. So Danny kept an eye on them, an ear open. When he finally heard their plan of action, _he_ took action. As Ari was in the Temple, Danny tracked the men down, one by one, a bludgeon in hand. Ari never found out what he did to them, Danny having chosen to forget it, Ari not searching for it. Skerry knew, though. And he chose to keep it to himself. His son was crafty; no matter how careful Skerry might be, Danny would be able to find a hole in his guards. The boy had one hell of a hit, and plenty of temper to go behind it.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

As any street urchin knows, it is imperative to keep an ear and an eye open as one sleeps. This is why, as Ari dreamed of sapphire eyes, she heard a scream carried streets and buildings over, no one else able to hear except for her. Brown eyes shot open, limbs scrambling, pushing her body up from its sprawled position on the mat. She gave Danny a passing glance as she made for the window; an arm rested over his eyes, breathing deep and easy. Her passing thought bordered on the word "typical". Using the badly spaced bricks as hand- and foot-holds, Ari climbed her way down.

Running at a full-out sprint, it took her five minutes to get to the slums located some structures from the _Broken Arms_ Tavern. She gulped for air, witnessing the scene before her. Three men – obviously drunk – had a cat in their grips, the same cat that Ari'd met earlier in the day.

At seeing her, the tabby cried, one man unsuccessfully trying to cut off its whiskers as the other two attempted to hold it. All four were bleeding from numerous scratches, made by both feline and steel claws. Ari glanced around her feet for something to throw. The only objects were chunks of wood too large for her to hurl. At least physically. Recalling the door from candlemarks previous, she harnessed rage as she did her Shadows, willing the wood to hit them. They tumbled on top of each other as the cat went flying, landing on its feet and flying like hell past Ari, and into the darkness of the streets.

The men groaned in collective agony as they rose to their feet. They shook themselves off and looked for the someone who'd caused them pain. Their eyes found Ari, three sets of mouths carving themselves into cruel smiles. _Gods above,_ thought Ari, backing up slowly. She turned and began running. One of them lunged at her, catching her around the middle and hefted her back to where the other two waited. The man who had hold of her focused his grip on her arms, a binding squeeze. _If I can just reach my knife!_ she thought desperately. The thing was attached to her hip, on the inside of her breeches; it was the only thing she had left of her mother, and the only clue she ever had to unlocking the mystery of who her father was.

Panic was clouding her mind as the man in front of her used his knife to begin slashing at Ari's shirt._ No, no, NO!_

"NO!" she screamed. They laughed. Laughed at her torment, at her helplessness. Her fists balled, anger spilling out her throat as a growl. She channeled her rage again, this time into the knife of the one before her. It quivered, shoving itself away from her, and swiftly pulled itself free of the bastard. The one holding her let go in shock. Ari didn't hear him whisper "Herald" before she willed the knife across his throat. Blood painted lines on her face and clothes, some getting on the others as well. The corpse fell to its knees, and then sank face-forward at Ari's feet.

The horror didn't strike her until she came from her anger-induced stupor, smelling the blood dripping down her cheeks and brow. Her throat made a whine. The other two looked at her, incredulous. They backed away slowly. With shaky resolve, Ari peered into their minds.

_:Git the others, take 'er down –:_

_:Slit the bitch's throat like she did 'im! –: _

They ran up the street and into the _Broken Arms_. They were gathering reinforcements.

Ari did the only thing reasonable: she ran.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Heralds Embry and Salemith sat morosely in the _Broken Arms,_ reminiscing about their times with Jayck. They wore their Whites, despite how sorely they stuck out. No one would dare disturb the peace, unless they wanted their arms to match those on the sign hanging outside the door. Good memories were softly flowing between the two, as a lull came over the conversation.

Embry sighed. "Won't be long now 'til Dana follows him." Salemith nodded his agreement. Without warning, the door burst open. Two men sprinkled in blood slid in.

"He's dead! The bitch killed him!" A dozen men jumped up to assist the two others at the door. All piled out, followed closely by the Heralds, who called their Companions to them. Suvrina and Danzek came at a trot, their Chosen slinging themselves on the saddles as fast as humanly possible. Salemith had the stronger Mindspeech, and scanned for anything that could help them find the murderer. Embry took to searching her out using his faint aptitude with Farsight, hoping to spot a blood-soaked woman on the run. What he found stopped his breath.

"_Gods_," he choked out. Salemith looked at his friend, concern written on his features.

"Where is she?" asked Salemith.

"Three streets up. Sal – Sal, she's a kid. A child. And she's no older than eleven or twelve!"

What Salemith said next summed up both their feelings to a tee: "_Shit_."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Something was wrong. But what? Danny turned over towards Ari. He could taste fear as it rolled in waves off her. But she was right –

Gone. Gone, she was gone.

"Ari?" Danny's throat choked on her name. _:Ari!:_ He screamed for her mind repeatedly, garnering no answer. He sprang to the window, looking about, only to find nothing. He squeezed his eyes shut, running her voice and her face through his mind, trying to sense her particular flair. He opened his eyes, catching hold of her. He tumbled down the window, tearing down streets to reach her.

_:Hold out, Heart-sib; I'm coming!:_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari's hands shook as she swung her legs over the guardrail of the overpass. She clung to the rail in the hopes that she wouldn't have to follow through with her plan. But – should she need to – she'd let go.

_So you're willin' to leave Danny all alone in this world? His heart'll break!_ She fought with herself. Of course she didn't want to leave Danny! She'd certainly go to gaol for this, for _murder_. And though she might not be executed, she'd certainly be massacred by the victim's friends when – if – she got out. Why be a burden on Danny's mind and heart? _It wouldn' take too long for him to get over my death, anyways._ She knew that that wasn't true, but tried deluding herself anyhow.

_He wouldn' have to worry about me anymore._

_He wouldn', would he?_ she mocked herself. _Only every day wonderin' what _he _did wrong. Ya know he'd take the both of ya out of this gods-cursed gutter, to live somewhere better; e'en though he has no money, no stake, and nothing to get ya going on. It's never been about what he needs; it's been about what _you_ need. How much has he sacrificed for you, on your behalf? And this is how ya repay him!_

Ari fought tears off as she heard a strange sound behind her. It sounded like something jingling, clopping on the streets… Her stomach dropped out.

_Heralds! What now, what now?!_ Her heart beat double-time, and her breathing became erratic. The jingling was coming closer.

_Listen to what they've got to say! Don't do something even more stupid!_ Ari tried calming herself as she heard two men shouting at her. She glanced back at them. One of them put his hands in front of him, a 'hold your position' motion.

"Let us talk to you!" he shouted some meters away, coming closer still.

"Tell us what happened!" hollered the other.

Ari worried her lip, wondering if she should respond by talking or by walking.

"I killed a man! What more d'ya need to know?" They didn't even pause responding.

"Why? Why did you kill him?"

"Does it matter? I'm gonna be locked up, anyway." They were now close enough to hear her without bellowing. "Besides, why should you care about a street-rat like me?" She turned her head back, looking below the overpass. She had two stories in which to fall to her death.

"No. The question is, why _wouldn't_ we care?" asked the broader of the two. She glimpsed their expressions. From a distance away, men's shouts could be heard. _Oh, look. They brought friends._ The Heralds knew it, too.

The broad one held his hand out to her. "Come with us!" he pleaded. Ari's heart sped up again. She watched up the street as faraway figures made slow rounds up the street, some with torches in hand. They would be here in a matter of minutes. Two Heralds didn't stand a chance against a dozen and more men.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Danny raced to Ari, praying that he wouldn't be late. He still didn't know what had made her leave, or what'd caused her such distress.

He came out of a side alley-way that lie straight in front of the main overpass for supply carts. What Danny saw made his heart stop. Ari had positioned herself on the stupid side of the railing as two Heralds beckoned for her to come with them. Danny prayed that she went with them.

Commotion came from his left. At least fifteen men were marching to where the three others stood.

_Please, no!_ Danny begged. Ari turned her head, seeing the men, but not her Heart-sib. With stony resolve, she turned around, letting go of the rail and stepping off the extra stone that was under her feet.

Danny's heart shattered, just as an impossible streak of white raced to the overpass.


	3. Chapter 3: Choose

**Chapter 3: Choose**

Please, no!_ Danny begged. Ari turned her head, seeing the men, but not her Heart-sib. With stony resolve, she turned around, letting go of the rail and stepping off the extra stone that was under her feet._

_Danny's heart shattered, just as an impossible streak of white raced to the overpass._

Ari's stomach dropped out of her as she stepped forward, hands forsaking the rail. Doubts flashed through her mind. She had less than a moment to regret her decision before she was suddenly suspended twenty feet in the air. Her tunic wasn't sturdy in the best of times, and was now ripping agonizingly slow, her rescuer struggling to haul her back over the edge – despite the fact that she was lighter than any child her age should be. Ari grabbed frantically at the iron bars, but only succeeded in weakly missing them. Her shirt ripped further.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sal and Embry had jumped off their Companions as soon as the girl had looked back over her shoulder. They were not even three steps ahead when a great pallid blur shoved past them, racing to catch the child. The Companion took hold of the girl's tunic, attempting to drag her up. The men could now be heard stampeding towards the bridge. Embry – being larger than Sal – went to stave them off, Sal returning to the task of rescuing the newly Chosen. The girl's shirt was ripping at an alarming rate. Sal placed his foot firmly between two bars and leaned over the rail, grabbing the girl by her upper arm. With the Companion's aid, they got her back onto the cobbled street, all breathing heavily from the effort.

Voices began to rise higher as Embry, Suvrina, and Danzek formed a body-blockade against the men trying to get to the target of their anger. One of the larger ones covered in a fair amount of blood was trying to shove his way through.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari felt extremely foolish. Not even foolish really; it was more along the lines of agonizingly stupid. Her heart sunk to her middle as she slumped on the ground, not even bothering to stand.

_:Ari? Ari.:_ Her brow creased. This voice was female, and knew her name. But, she didn't know any women. Did she?

_:Beloved. Look up!:_ Ari raised her head tiredly. A pair of equine legs stood before her, lowering their owner to Ari's eye level. Sapphire eyes gazed into her soul.

_:I'm here, Beloved.:_ Ari fell into the Companion's eyes. It was stepping off the edge of an incredible abyss, only to be held by so much caring and love that even trying to grasp the concept of it made Ari's heart burst. She wrapped her arms around the Companion's neck, sobbing into her mane.

_Nienori…_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Danny threw himself towards Ari as soon as the stupor had worn off. He could see nothing, and his heart writhed in agony and despair. Danny threaded his way through the mob clumsily, and, for the most part, was ignored by them. He came to the front of the crowd as a beefy man drizzled in drying blood was trying to squeeze his form through a well-built Herald and two Companions. Danny ran his hands through his hair, being shoved occasionally by sharp elbows in his back. It barely registered in his mind. Danny released a sob. It went unheard in the shouting of the crowd. Sobs poured forth, musical in their release. These sobs did not belong to Ari's Heart-sib.

_Ari!_ With renewed purpose, he sprung forth, trying unsuccessfully to move past the Companion in front of him. _Wai'! A Companion, o' course!_ He could have cried from relief on all points. He tried speaking to the creature, but couldn't even hear himself, and very much doubted the Companion could might be able to – even with sensitive ears. He glanced about desperately, trying to find some way to convey speech. _Thoughts!_

_:Please hear me! She's meh family! Let meh through!:_ The Companion looked him directly in the eyes. And then glanced subtly down to the gap underneath her belly, and then back at the boy. He nodded in understanding.

_I am no' seen; I am shad'w, I am darked._ He repeated this mantra over and over again, praying to not be seen by the bastards with torches. Those who wanted to keep their worthless lives wouldn't go through the Herald and Companions for fear of their Gifts, and fear of death at the hands of them, or the queen. But that didn't mean they wouldn't force the smallest of them under the kind Companion and on to the other side.

Making it through, and sitting on his knees, Danny saw Ari clutching a third Companion, crying heartily into her mane. The Companion nuzzled her in return. Danny blinked. He curled his fingers into his fist. He shook, but couldn't understand _why_ exactly. He didn't even have to ask to understand what was going on. And for some reason, his vision began to blur. He found the reason as he swiped at his eyes: tears.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari smiled, all thoughts of fear quelled. She wanted to wallow in her new-found happiness, but reality sunk in as sounds of shouting rose. She lifted her head from Nienori's neck to turn to the commotion, her arms still wrapped around the Companion. Her smile melted as her eyes met Danny's.

_Danny!_

In the time between her descent and being Chosen, not a thought had passed for her coz. Danny was silent as he shook, tear-drenched, trying to maintain steady breathing. Ari reached her hand out to him. She didn't get the chance to see whether or not he would take it, for a battle-cry came from one of the men coated in his comrade's blood. He sprang forth, snarling like a madman, trying to ram his way through the Companions and their Heralds.

"Yo'r dead, bitch!" he screamed at her. Ari shrunk in on herself, huddling against Nienori. Danny moved to her quickly, wrapping his body around hers as a human shield.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sal had joined Embry after the boy had gotten through, and was now trying to keep the victim's "friend" from getting through to the newly Chosen. Embry, though a muscular man, was wearing down, using his strength to keep the other man at bay.

"Oh, just damn it all," growled Sal. He waited until the man had separated himself from Embry, and shattered his kneecap with a blow from his boot, releasing a fist into his face as hard as he could. Being free of him, Embry pulled out his sword, making sure it rang as it was pulled from its sheath. The men with torches took one look at his face, and balked. This was a look that could make even Alberich a little more considerate. Sal now had his weapon out as well. The shriek of a cat turned the mob-men's heads; the Heralds kept their main focus on the crowd, but an eye was put aside for any other potential trouble.

A bleeding cat stalked out from an alleyway, back arched as far as it would rise, spitting in anger. But it wasn't only _one_ cat that made its way to the men; it was many, and wasn't limited to just felines. Dogs of all sizes and colors prowled next to their natural enemies, aiding them. From overhead, the mass screeching of birds was observed, many landing on the railing behind the girl, an older boy, and a Companion. Others landed on the ground, walking with the dogs and cats; and others yet were on the backs of dogs, flapping their wings threateningly.

The men shifted nervously. The other man who had witnessed the killing was wisely moving to the back. The animals were surrounding the mob, all making their various sounds of warning, but they were leaving an exit open for escape, for those wise enough to do take it.

It was all too much for one man in the back. When he turned tail and ran, he started the chain that lead the others running for safety, away from all the madness. Every one of them was gone but for the man Sal had clocked. He moaned in pain, holding his hands over his bleeding and broken nose, still lying on the ground. The bleeding cat sat next to his face, tail flicking patiently. He didn't notice it there, so the creature meowed gutturally to get his attention. He turned his head slowly, and squinted over the pain from his nose. The cat hissed evilly, raising a paw in warning. He forgot the pain in his nose, and rolled over hastily, scrambling up and away, hot on the heels of the rest of them. Suvrina whickered in amusement.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The animals, their task completed, made their way back from whence they came, barking, meowing, or cawing supportively to Ari. She smiled tentatively at them. The tabby made its way to her slowly, sore from ignoring the pain of its wounds. Danny was still holding on to his Heart-sib, refusing to let her go, tears continuing their silent trek down his face. Ari looked at him, asking forgiveness with her eyes. Danny smiled crookedly, nodding shortly. He sniffed a little, resting his head on her shoulder. Ari turned her attention back to the cat, now standing before her. Its paws were bleeding where claws had been ripped out in self-defense; scratches bled on its back and sides, mixing with mud and mold to tangle in its fur. It was easy to see that infection would set in soon, if it hadn't already. Ari put a hand on its head gently.

_:Thank you,:_ she told it.

_:Debt paid,:_ it thought tiredly. Ari wished there was something – anything – she could do for the tabby. She could imagine how the wounds would close, willed them to close, fought the infection setting in. Ari inhaled sharply; she could feel power – something akin to what she used to move the wood – trickling down her arm into the cat, healing it.

Danny could feel gooseflesh forming from the energy being used. He watched in confusion as he saw Ari and the animal glowing brighter, not understanding what he saw.

Just as quickly as it was begun, so it ended. Ari felt somewhat drained. The cat mewled thankfully, rubbing it head against her palm, and scampered away.

_Well; two new powers in less th'n a night. What should I 'spect next?_

_:The unimaginable, Beloved; expect the unimaginable.:_ Ari gazed at Nienori, smiling once more.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Danny looked at Ari grinning happily at her Companion.

_She don' need meh no more,_ he thought painfully, _I migh' as well leave 'er to 'er happiness._ He hugged her one last time and stood. She looked at him in confusion. Putting on the hardest performance of his life, Danny smiled cheerfully, saluting her good-bye. He stood straight, and forced every corner of his being to hold strong until he got, oh, anywhere where he could be alone. The Heralds watched him in understanding, nodding respectfully as he passed.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari didn't understand what was happening.

_:Where's he goin'?:_ she asked Nienori.

_:He's leaving you to live out your life.:_ she said simply.

_:But can' he come with me?:_ Nienori shook her head.

_:I'm afraid not, Chosen.:_ Ari stared at the Heralds.

"Please – let him come with me!" she said softly, watching Danny's slowly retreating figure.

"We're sorry, kid, but he's not–" started the smaller one quietly. Not knowing how to finish, he shrugged. Ari lowered her head, rather uninterested in having them look at her as she cried.

_:Ari – Ariasha.:_ She looked up sideways at Nienori.

_:You can always visit him.:_

"You don' understand," she said, barely audible.

Nienori nudged her. _:Then explain it to me.:_ Ari did, describing her life and that of her cousin, as quickly as possible. Danny had just rounded a corner, and couldn't be seen. Ari wanted to run after him, tell him he could come with her.

_:There're things he can do – things like I can!:_ she said hurriedly.: _He could help! Or he could learn to cook, or sew – he's always mendin' our stuff. Please–:_ she begged. A hole was forming in her chest, bleeding, demanding she weep. She refused to succumb. The Companion was silent.

With much difficulty and pain on the girl's part, Ari forced out shakily, "I'll stay with him, wheth'r 'r not I'm with you."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Danny! _Danny!_" He turned. Ari was huffing, having run to catch up to him. She hugged him around his waist, thankful she'd caught up to him. Danny pushed her back, and took her shoulders, shaking her.

"Lass! What're ye doin'?! Why aren' ye with yer Companion?!" He asked hotly.

"I'm not goin' nowhere without ya, Danny," she said, putting her hands over his. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Meh Wolf Pup, ye haf t' go with 'em."

"I know," she told him. He opened his eyes, frowning. Behind her was her Companion, as well as the other two with their Heralds.

"Tha's why ya're comin' with me."


	4. Chapter 4: The Start of Something New

**Chapter 4: The Start of Something New**

"_Danny! Danny!" He turned. Ari was huffing, having run to catch up to him. She hugged him around his waist, thankful she'd caught up to him. Danny pushed her back, and took her shoulders, shaking her._

"_Lass! What're ye doin'?! Why aren' ye with yer Companion?!" He asked hotly. _

"_I'm not goin' nowhere without ya, Danny," she said, putting her hands over his. He closed his eyes and sighed._

"_Meh Wolf Pup, ye haf t' go with 'em."_

"_I know," she told him. He opened his eyes, frowning. Behind her was her Companion, as well as the other two with their Heralds._

"_Tha's why ya're comin' with me."_

The group – consisting of three Companions, two Heralds, and Ari and Danny – was in front of the _Tankard and Some_, Danny needing to grab a few items, and tell his father a thing or two. The sun grimaced as its fingertips touched the front of the dingy ale-house, dawn having risen some time ago – round about when the mob was driven off. The Heralds and Companions waited patiently as Ari and Danny stared, faces grim, at the tavern.

"D'ya wan' me t' go with ya?" Ari whispered to her coz. Danny shook his head slowly.

"Nay, Lass. 'll be fine on me own." Ari was unconvinced, but let it go.

"If 'e tries somethin', I'm goin' in after ya," she stated. Danny moved forward, reaching for the door handle.

"Danny." He looked back. Ari stood beside her Companion – _'er Companion!_ – having walked next to Danny the few streets to get to their "place of residence". Her face was devoid of humor, completely serious.

"I mean it; I'll be listenin' out." He smiled crookedly, and turned around. Resolve solid as stone, he pulled open the door, and entered.

Skerry was "cleaning" the glasses counter with a rag that had probably never even been within ten feet of water, much less been soaked in it. He looked up as Danny entered.

"Y' late," he barked. "Fetch t' cask in t' back." He went back to dirtying the counter top. Danny headed for the stairs instead, completely ignoring his father's orders for the first time he could remember clearly.

"'ey! I saids tuh git t' cask in back, _boy_!" Skerry spat.

"Get fucked," Danny said with the venom he'd been storing since Ari was five, when she'd been left on her uncle's doorstep.

Skerry looked up slowly, stunned. He didn't move. Danny took this as an opportunity to head upstairs – skipping two steps at a time – to retrieve what few belongings he and Ari had to their names.

It didn't take long. Everything was hidden beneath carefully placed floorboards that had been broken long ago. He grabbed the two bags (packed for some months now), replaced the boards, and went back down the stairs one last time, not caring to say farewell to the room.

Skerry was still in the same place as before. However, his face was mottled with rage, veins standing out along his temples. He looked with hatred upon his flesh and blood. Danny stood straight, defying the man's wrath with an uncaring expression. He made for the door. That was the last straw for Skerry.

With a roar of outrage, Skerry shoved the table out of his way, striding to Danny. The stripling spun, just as Skerry grabbed hold of Danny's throat. The bags dropped in hasty surprise, Danny using his hands to try and pry Skerry's off.

The tavern keeper pulled Danny forward, dragging him to the counter. Taking his hair, Skerry slammed Danny's head into the decrepit wood. Pain exploded over Danny's brow, a hollow echoing chasing his mind. His hands dropped.

Skerry held him there, and reached for something beneath the panels of the wood. Danny had an idea of what he was reaching for, and tried to yank himself away. He only succeeded in having his scalp bleed, and making himself faintly nauseous from moving his head. He pitched his arms about frantically, the glasses before him shattering as they were shoved to the floor. Skerry kept a good hold as he pulled it out. Danny was right.

Stained steel glinted dimly, the knife reflecting what little light the tavern held.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari's middle knotted in worry. It shouldn't have taken this long for him to grab virtually nothing, should it?

She had her eyes trained on the door when she heard the shatter of glass. Acting on instinct, she threw herself to the door, wrenched it open, flinging herself inside. Skerry had hold of her Heart-sib, and Danny's head was bleeding from various orifices. But what made her universe shift sickeningly was seeing the knife Skerry held above Danny. Panic seized her, her actions out of her control.

Ari screamed in fear – not just for her cousin, but for the glass she unconsciously sent flying at Skerry. Glasses erupted as they hit the man, the objects completely avoiding Danny's frame. Shards imbedded themselves in Skerry's flesh. He let Danny loose, the son stumbling backward, clutching his head in great pain. Danny tripped over a chair, sending him sprawling.

Ari rushed to him, sitting on her knees to assess the damage. She hissed as she saw the bruising around his throat, the cuts on his face, the blood in his hair. She took his head and gently set it on her lap. A shriek of pure torment came from the man at the bar. Ari gazed at him fearfully. And immediately felt bile rising in her throat.

Skerry's hands were shaking in front of him; he didn't dare to touch any place on his body. Slices and fragments were cramped together, jutting out at odd angles, mostly on his left side. The knife was still clutched in his hand. Blood crept from the wounds as snakes slither in the grass. Worst of all, one large portion of glass rested in Skerry's eye socket, the eye itself useless, flaccid and popped, oozing lines dribbling down his face. He began to retch, hacking up blood. Skerry fell to his knees and gasped a ragged breath. He fell flat, and breathed no more.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sal and Embry had gone in after the girl, finding her and the boy. Behind a counter stood a man, wicked-looking sheets of glass sticking out of him unmercifully. The Heralds had only enough time for shock before the man met his knees to the floor, dropping forward – dead.

Others came after that, Heralds and Healers. They took care of it all, healing the boy, and taking the body away. The girl had lost control of her Fetching; no one blamed her for reacting as she did. Embry was still worried, though. After the Healers had tended the wounded, the seven set out again for the Collegium.

They all tried to keep to back alleys, out of the sight of the public, hoping to avoid panicking from seeing the blood-sodden children. The girl was plainly weary, but kept herself alert. Sal and Embry couldn't guess if she knew that a small number of rag-tag cats and dogs were following them discreetly.

The boy rested against the newly Chosen's back, both astride the Companion, Nienori, bareback. He was wrapped around the young one loosely, head resting on her shoulder, tired from the Healing. The teen refused to leave his charge, even to the point of refusing a shorter path to a Healer's room. The girl-child kept an arm around her friend's arms, to brace him as they rode, two scruffy bags in her lap. She used her left hand to hold to Nienori's mane.

Sal looked to Embry. The bigger man's face bespoke of grim thoughts.

_No wonder_, Sal thought. _She's killed not one, but_ two _men since after midnight. Herald-trainee she may be, dangerous she most _certainly_ is._

_:But neither deaths were intentional. She did nothing under her own control – her Gifts chose panic and fear as their outlets.: _

Sal sighed. He knew Suvrina was right, but he was loath to admit it.

It would normally take only a candlemark to get to the Collegium. Twisting and winding 'round buildings, it took twice as long. Thoughts beginning to wander, Sal began working on how his conversation with Dean Teren would go as they passed beneath the stone wall.

"_You've probably heard she murdered two men– " _No. "_Well, she was provoked into–" _No. "_She–"_

It was then he realized that he didn't even know her name. Turning his attention to her, he asked bald-faced: "What're your names?" She looked at him with effort. Embry paid careful attention.

Swallowing to clear her throat she said roughly, "M' name's Ariasha. An' this," she gestured to the boy with her eyes, "is my coz, Danveer. Danny." Sal nodded in thanks. Now, at least, he knew what name to give the Dean.

"What're yours?" Sal blinked, looking to Ariasha again. Indicating each of them with a nod of his head, he told her.

"I'm Herald Salemith. My Companion's name is Suvrina. That's Herald Embry and his Companion, Danzek." Conversation lulled. Until…

"When'm I t' see a Justice?" Sal looked at her, genuinely surprised. He understood what she was asking, but had assumed she knew.

"You won't." She looked at him sharply, momentarily disturbing Danveer – Danny – before he ignored it.

"What d'ya mean? I–" her voice dropped to a subdued whisper. "I killed two men. And 'm not gonna go b'fore a Justice?!" She sounded incredulous at the idea. Sal regarded her intently.

"Does it bother you?"

"Yeah – I mean, no," she muttered. She looked away as she spoke, true in her feeling. "It jus' – it ain't right. I don' wanna be tried, but justice should be followed, assumin' law-abiders know an' want t' see things right an' all." Nienori craned her neck back towards her Chosen, dipping her head in approval. Ariasha gave her a tight-lipped smile. Attentions turned back to the grungy path before them. Sal was impressed. He couldn't believe that someone coming from where she did would say anything like that. _Maybe she _is _deserving of being Chosen._

_:Which just might explain the Companion she rides upon,:_ remarked Suvrina sarcastically.

They came to the gate at the inner wall of the city. The gate only being large enough to admit one rider at a time, Embry and Danzek went through first. The guard looked at Ariasha, her clothes ripped, ragged, and blood-soiled. He raised an eyebrow in question, but wisely decided not to comment. Sal glanced over his shoulder at Ariasha. Speaking quietly, he told her, "Follow me; we'll get your cousin to the Healers, and then I'll introduce you to Dean Teren – he's in charge of classes," he added after seeing her blank look.

She and Sal found a place for Danny in the Healers' Collegium. It was plain that Ariasha was reluctant to leave him, but did so anyway, following Sal back out to Nienori. From there, he showed her where the stable was. Nienori butted Ariasha affectionately before walking off to be groomed.

"Normally, you'd do it yourself. Since you're new, someone else will for today. But after that, she's your responsibility." She nodded in understanding.

"Do you know how to groom?" Sal asked her.

"I know how horses like t' be groomed. Is't the same with Companions?"

"More or less."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari clenched her fists around the bags, doing her best to keep a neutral expression. She knew this Dean Teren was doing his best not to outright stare at her haphazard outfit, and she silently gave him credit for it.

"Herald Teren, this is our newest Trainee, Ariasha." The Dean stood up, too quickly for Ari, who was still on alert. Not pausing to think, she leapt back to crouch, bags dropped, hand reaching for her blade. He froze. Herald Salemith kept his movements slow, raising his hands as he had when trying to get her down from the overpass.

"Ariasha," he said in a lowered voice, "you're safe here. No one's going to hurt you, especially a Herald."

Hand on the hilt of her knife, she watched his eyes and body for any sign of falsehood.

_:Chosen. Who can you trust if not a Herald?:_ Ari might not completely trust Salemith's words, but she didn't doubt a syllable of her Companion. Ari raised herself to stand straight again, hand leaving the dagger and taking up the bags again.

Herald Teren smiled at her, the smile not reaching his worry-filled eyes. He carefully gestured to the chair in front of his desk.

"Please, sit down."

_:Stay in here, would you, Sal? She seems to be somewhat comfortable with you.:_ Ari pretended she hadn't heard anything, and sat in the worn chair in front of the Dean's desk. Now that she was aware of it again, she could feel the buzzing of the thoughts in her head. She left her mind open in case either of them said something they didn't want her to hear.

_:Ari, that's eavesdropping,:_ said Nienori. _:And what's more, it's against Herald ethics.:_ Ari inwardly squirmed. Feeling abashed wouldn't keep her from blocking their conversation, though; it had helped her avoid trouble on more than enough occasions. And she wanted to know what they thought of her. She could feel Nienori's disapproval – and eye rolling? – but the Companion stayed in Ari's mind to listen with her.

"You were Chosen by Nienori, is that correct?"

"Yeah, I was."

"Where are you from in Haven?" Ari shrugged.

"Not far fr'm here. A candlemark 'r two away, by my reckonin'. 'F ya wan' somethin' more specific, then ya'd prob'ly know Lord Orthallen's pantry – it's five streets ov'r." The Herald nodded. Ari thought that he'd be taking notes. Instead, his hands were folded on the desk, purposefully in a position where Ari could see them without any trouble.

"Where are you with schooling?"

Ari shrugged slightly. "Well, I do m' best with readin', though it ain't great; fair with writin', but figurin'… Countin's fine, but not s'much sums." The Herald's brow furrowed. He turned to Salemith and said, "Could you grab me _Chronicles: 1070 – 1200_, please?" Salemith obliged, handing the older man the book. Herald Teren then flipped through to about halfway. He turned it around, scooting it to where Ari could read it easily.

"Start from anywhere, any sentence. Aloud, please." Ari leaned forward slowly, putting her hands on either side of the book. She started from something that seemed interesting enough. She managed to surprise them when she spoke, perfectly articulated words flowing from her lips, rather than her usual gruff dialect.

" '_But then, just as Lavan had managed to ring them in, raining fire upon the hundreds, a lone bowman crept up behind him, and shot Kalira in the chest. With her death, Lavan was driven to insanity, and could no longer distinguish between friend and foe. His mind broken, he hailed upon all a storm of fire, the greatest to ever be recorded in Herald history. Herald Pol–' _"

"You can stop."

_:Isn't great? She read flawlessly, nothing like what I'd expect her to be able to do – _and_ she understood what she was reading, was even confident about it. That's more than most children from her part of Haven can say,:_ Sal said to the Dean.

_Really?_ Ari was pleasantly surprised. Whenever Wiztoelt had made her read out loud, she started criticizing Ari not three words in.

_:Really,:_ said Nienori. _:You can't lie while Mindspeaking.:_

Herald Teren then took a piece of paper, and after scribbling something hurriedly on it, passed it and the pen to Ari. She looked at it. And grimaced.

_24x3_

Picking up the pen, Salemith said to the Dean _:Left-handed – not something you see too often, eh?:_

_:Not often at all,:_ he agreed.

Trying to remember how to multiply properly, Ari wracked her brain for something useful the red-haired demon had taught her. It took her a few minutes and three or four scratch-outs to hazily recall how it was done.

Herald Teren took the final product when she offered it to him.

_:Well, she _did_ get it right. Might've taken time…definitely needs more practice.:_

So she did get it right! That in and of itself was quite the accomplishment. She dreaded the practicing bit, though.

The elder Herald grabbed a new piece of paper, and took his pen back to write with. Before Ari could worry if she'd need to do more figuring, the Dean gave her the paper. It was a schedule.

"Welcome to the Collegium."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sal gave her a very brief description of the Collegium as they walked toward the Housekeeper's office. He hit on the important places that she would need to know how to get to right-off-the-bat: Housekeeper's office and kitchen in the basement; the first floor held the classrooms; second floor were the dormitories and the common room for meals; and the third floor, the library and study area. Ariasha seemed especially keen on the library.

"The thing you have to remember about the library: always put the books back where you got them from, and in alphabetical order. We don't have anyone who picks up in here, except those who use the books. Also, no one's allowed to take anything out."

Ariasha nodded.

_There're probably more books in the library than she's seen in her life; if she's the voracious reader I think she could be, then she'll be sleeping in there!_

She snorted in amusement. Sal looked at her, an eyebrow raised. Ariasha just grinned at him in response.

Sal walked right through the open door of the office. Babbie greeted him with a kind smile, her hands full with needle, thread, and a damaged pair of Grays. Four girls were there as well, chatting animatedly together, repairing various articles of clothing.

"What's it y' need now? Two more inches out on y'r pants, again?" Sal chuckled.

"You forget; I stopped sprouting three years ago. Actually, I've got a new one with me."

Gaytha's replacement craned her neck, trying to see around Sal. The girls quieted a bit, looking as well. Babbie frowned.

"Where?" Sal looked behind him. Ariasha was hiding herself out in the hall.

" 'M not descent," she whispered to him. Babbie set aside her work and stood up. She went slowly out into the hall where Ariasha was concealing herself.

The Housekeeper held her hand out.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari hesitated. She did _not_ want to go in that room, or take the offered hand – just for the sake that the woman was an unknown, and that it just wasn't practical to take the hands of total strangers. But if Herald Salemith trusted her… It would have been fine if it was just the kindly-seeming Housekeeper and Salemith. But there were girls in there, girls who would most likely laugh – or worse, make a disgusted face and start off with their friends about her – as soon as Ari walked through the door.

_:Give them a chance to prove you wrong, Beloved. There's one who's at least guaranteed to sympathize. See that girl with the blonde hair? She's in Grays, a Herald-trainee – if anything, she'll know how you're feeling.: _

Ari hesitantly placed her hand in the older woman's, and was lead out of the shadows and into the room. The girls hissed. Ari looked at them peripherally. They all bore similar expressions of–

_Worry?_ The girls rose simultaneously rose and strode to her.

"What happened?"

"Why aren't you with a Healer?"

"Are you all right?"

"Is it all yours?"

"Salemith Walving! Y' dare bring her for new clothes when wha' she needs's a bed?!" The last came from the Housekeeper. Salemith looked rather alarmed.

"She's fine, Babbie! She was already checked out. All she needs is a bath, some clothes, a room, and a better guide than me."

"And I c'n provide all. Aldora, dear? I'm letting you off early today." Babbie looked at the girl in Grays.

"As soon's she's been fitted, I'd like you to take–" Babbie looked to Ari.

"Ariasha," Ari said in a small voice.

"I'd like y' to take Ariasha to the baths, and then find her a room. Y're in charge, Blondie." Aldora straightened quickly, giving Babbie a salute.

"Yes, ma'am!" Babbie glanced at Salemith again, her eyes still sputtering with censure.

"I've got it from here, Sal." She made a shoeing motion with her hands. He turned around before he exited.

"Remember: you need anything, ask for me." He nodded to her, and left.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Ari felt much cleaner after the bath. Aldora had been telling her the basic need-to-knows, and Ari had given Aldora her schedule to look over with her.

"Huh. We have all the same classes – except for Logic. But oh, well."

The girls strode down one of the various corridors of the Collegium, doors on each side spaced out accordingly. Aldora stopped at one door in particular. Upon opening it, Ari discovered that it was a dorm, rather compact in size, but more a queen's suite than anything Ari had ever known. A small fireplace sat to one side in the center of the wall, new wood stacked within for the next user, metal screen covering it; an oil lamp sat atop the fireplace, ready to be used at the occupant's disposal. The bed was tucked beneath a window which faced eastward, and a bookcase rested to the left, next to the bed; texts sat in comfort on a middle shelf, three candlesticks resting on separate shelves. On the bed's other side stood a lone desk and chair, inks, pens, and blank papers stacked neatly across the surface. A wardrobe huddled a few feet from the door inconspicuously. The walls were made of plaster, and freshly whitewashed. Canvas curtains the same color of the walls covered the windows, hiding the shutters without.

Ari clasped her second pair of Grays to her chest, having already donned the first after the good scrubbing – her bags were still in her fist. Aldora took a nameplate – from nowhere that Ari could discern – and wrote the other girl's name on it, sliding it in the slot on the door. Aldora turned to Ari, a kind smile gracing her lovely features. The blonde shrugged, and held her arms out, gesturing about the room.

"Welcome home, Ariasha."

_Home…_The most foreign of concepts for Ari to grasp about the place. School, shelter, warmth, food, books…

But home?

"C'mon, put your clothes and bags up. I want you to meet someone."

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

The "someone" actually turned out to be many someones. Two girls and three boys sat gathered around a great oak; two were in Grays – the others sported one set each of Unaffiliated, Healer-trainee, and Bard-trainee uniforms. One of the girls –the Blue – was reading what looked to be a book of folk-tales, ignoring the rest who were talking animatedly.

"Hey. People," Aldora snapped at the crew authoritatively. They turned their attention to her, all pairs of eyes drifting to Ari, even those of the reading girl flickering up to Aldora and the new girl, and lighting back to her story. The street urchin tried not to outright jitter with nervousness. _This's too foreign…_

"Everyone, this is Ariasha; Ariasha, this is everyone. Well, not all of everyone, but a good portion of us." The group smiled at her, waving their hellos. One of them stood to take her hand. He was rather lanky, and stood a good bit higher than her; light green eyes danced in mirth beneath a tumbling of black hair.

"Hello, there. My name's Garreth, what?" Ari furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at the boy's question as he kissed her hand, the epitome of Bardic manners. She looked to Aldora for some sort of explanation as Garreth gave Ari her hand back.

"Forgive him. It's his tic – he doesn't even know that he does it," said an older, flame-haired boy.

"Do what, what?" Garreth asked, clearly puzzled.

"See?" This boy stood up as well, graceful for his great height. He held out a large and calloused hand, engulfing Ari's smaller one with the greeting.

"Tanbal Carter. Good to meet you."

"Likewise," said Ari, genuinely meaning it.

"What do I do?" Garreth pressed.

"Nothing, Garry," said Aldora rolling her eyes.

"Mairwey, what is it I'm doing, what?" Garreth asked the last boy.

"Hey, don't get me involved in your guys' crazy squabbles." The Herald-trainee gestured comically with his hands.

"No one would ever accuse you of taking sides, Dear," said the bookworm playfully. Mairwey went with it.

"Thank you, Devissa, for the mind-blowing insight. What would I do without you to light up my life and provoke my thoughts?"

"Shrivel up and fail all your classes." Mairwey snorted good-naturedly.

"Fair and lovely Adabelle–" Garreth tried to plead with the other girl. Her heart-shaped face brightened with humor.

"Nope. I favor Mairwey's take on this. Sorry," she said unapologetically. Garreth sniffed.

"I see how it is, what? I've got a lute that's in dire need of tuning as it is." He walked off. Ari looked at all of them. Mairwey waved a hand dismissively.

"Don't mind him; he's one of those natural drama queens."

Aldora took a seat on the roots of the oak. She motioned Ari to sit with her.

"As I was saying before our newest friend arrived," began Mairwey, "there's no doubt – Alberich _has_ to be shaych."

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

"They're all decent pe'ple," said Ari, finishing relating her tale to Danny. He was still in the Healer's Collegium, lying on his side on a clean cot ("Th' grandes' thing I e'er slept on 'r in.")

"They soun' righ' good f'r ye," Danny said, voice thick with sleep. Ari noticed.

"Bett'r leave ya t' sleep, now."

"Hmm" was all he said in response. He sighed, shifting to a more comfortable position. Ari stayed seated, though.

"Danny?" Ari whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Are ya – are ya sorry that I killed 'im? Skerry, I mean." Danny looked her square in the eye.

"Hell, no. Ye saved m' life, and ye met ou' just'ce. Th' bast'rd 'ad it comin' to 'im, has f'r years." Ari nodded, not quite believing his words. He grabbed hold of her hand.

"Lass. Tha' life's over now, f'r th' both'v us. It's th' start a somethin' new." He rubbed her hand between the two of his and only released it to her after he'd kissed it. Ari beamed. She made a motion to stand.

"Lass? B'fore ye go, would ye – would ye sing somethin' f'r me?"

"A'course. Any speci'l requests?" Danny thought it over for a moment.

" Nah. Anythin's fine. But not," he said pointing sternly at her, " 'My Lady's Eyes'. 'M the only one who gets t' tease with't. Horrid stuff; if I 'aven't heard it a thousan' times, I heard it a thousan' and three."

"I dunno, Danny. It's such a lov'ly ditty…"

"…Ye woul' not dare." She grinned at him, and began the intended melody. As she sang, she could see his struggle to keep his eyes open. Finally succumbing, Ari smiled, kissing his forehead as he slept easily.

"G'night, Danny. I'd do it all ov'r again, jus' ta be here with you. Maybe now we can fin'lly rest easy, an' not have ta be ev'r lookin' ov'r our shoulders."


	5. Chapter 5: Runaway Acceptance

**Chapter 5: Runaway Acceptance**

"_G'night, Danny. I'd do it all ov'r again, jus' ta be here with you. Maybe now we can fin'lly rest easy, an' not have ta be ev'r lookin' ov'r our shoulders."_

Classes didn't start, and wouldn't for a bit.

"Epona's not back yet; they're holding out for her and her Chosen to start Orientation," Aldora told her. "Who knows how far she'd have to go to get someone? Talia, the Queen's Own – Dirk, the Orientation teacher, is her husband – came from the Holderfolk, somewhere near Cordor. Took almost two weeks to get here." Ari kept her amazement to herself. Talia, _the_ Talia was Holderkin? And her husband was the Orientation teacher?

Ari took it all in stride, shaking her head. She was nervous about classes and just wanted them over with. _Maybe it won' be as bad as schoolin' was before_.

"So, what'll I do 'til then?" she asked Aldora. The blonde raised an eyebrow at her, a serious look on her face. "Enjoy it," she commanded. "_We_ are not so lucky." She gestured to their friends as the two walked towards the salle. Aldora – as well as a few others Ari had gotten to know – were there for Weapons practice with Alberich. Having memorized her supposed-to-be schedule, Ari reminded herself that at least she'd know some people at her practice. They were already here.

Sitting at a bench, the girls waited with Adabelle, Hyndin (a very tall, thin and somewhat dark boy), Devissa (who was now reading a different book), and three others she didn't know, all blonde, male, and Herald-trainees.

Ari watched as Tanbal kept up with the Weaponsmaster. Tanbal was apparently a prodigy with the sword, coming from a farm where all he knew were horses, dealing with females (four sisters and a mother – though he had a brother and father), and fending off the occasional brigand with a pitchfork.

Aldora was talking seriously with Adabelle about some mathematics work. Ari made a face listening to them. Her eye slipped to one of the unknown boys. He was – even though a boy – beautiful, with hair a white-blonde that hung carefully arranged around his ears, and eyes a sharp, silver-gray. Eyes that were watching Aldora. Ari observed his stare discreetly. No emotion passed through his eyes or face, though it did seem as if his face had a slight scowl, even blank as he was trying to make it.

Ari was about to listen to his thoughts when Tanbal came over to the bench, breathing deeply and smiling.

"Your turn, Dori," he said to Aldora.

"How many times must I tell you not to use the name _Dori_? I swear, Carter, if you _ever_ call me that again, I'll have you–" She described an interesting situation with a spoon, a goat, and ropes. Ari raised her eyebrows. She didn't think Herald-trainees were supposed to talk like that. But it was still amusing.

Hyndin whistled appreciatively. "Damn. Wish I knew how to threaten people like you do," he told Aldora. Aldora stood stock-straight, regal as any noble. She sniffed.

"Of course you do."

Alberich was becoming impatient.

"Over here you get, girl, or back to Evendim send you I will!" Aldora responded rapidly, forgetting the argument. She hadn't gotten two yards before she tripped over her own feet, falling ungracefully to the ground. Devissa put down her book, and began clapping sarcastically. The friends at the table followed suit except for Ari, who was up and next to the girl without even thinking about it. Ari caught the expression of the boy who'd been watching her friend earlier. He was halfway between being amused and concerned.

Aldora rolled over, sighing at her clumsiness. Ari held her hand out for her, afraid Aldora wouldn't take it. Aldora grabbed the calloused hand gratefully.

"Over here, Evendim!" barked Alberich, apathetic. Aldora walked quickly this time, and picked up a light rapier, standing guard against Alberich. Ari went to the bench and sat down again.

"She's been here how long, and she _still_ falls over nothing but her own boots?" asked Tanbal.

Hyndin snorted in amusement. "I've been keeping track of how often she does it: it's the fifth time in three days. Poor girl. Never went any quicker than a brisk walk her whole life, and then she comes here." Ari looked at Hyndin, silently questioning.  
"She's from Lake Evendim," he explained. Ari wrinkled her brow.

"If you know what's good for you, you don't run – between all the children and the slippery docks, it's hazardous," finished Adabelle. Ari understood, and turned her head to watch Aldora fight, Ari's eyes not the only watching.

_He wouldn't do something to her, would he?_ She asked herself, reminded of some of the looks tavern men gave waitresses when they walked by. She held back a shudder.

_:No, Beloved, not Caedance. It isn't what you think it is.:_

_:?:_ Her Companion sighed.

_:He admires her, but keeps it to himself. He's very private, and has good reason to be.:_

_:Why?:_ Nienori sighed.

_:Because of his father – a cruel, and greedy man. Caedance's father is wealthy, and uses that beat others down, including his own son.:_

Ari didn't comment, understanding well enough. Nienori sent her Chosen a wave of affection. Ari clasped onto it, reveling in and sharing the emotion.

Even though clumsy, Aldora was fairing well as she did battle with the armsmaster. Alberich _did_ eventually "kill" her.

"With my dying breath," she mock-gasped, hands over her heart, staggering, "I blame… Mairwey." With that, she dropped delicately to the ground, applause once again surrounding her. She leapt up to take a bow.

"Watch your step D-DooorAldora," Tanbal teased as she walked back. Aldora smacked his head as she took the seat next to Ari.

"Hey!" said Tanbal indignantly. Aldora smirked.

"You should know two things by now: don't call me Dori; and when Mairwey isn't around, _you_ are his replacement, and your head the target object of my palm."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Danny sat lifelessly in the window-pane. He was trying to convince himself to stay at the Collegium. Though what they could use him for was beyond him. It had been, what? A week, a week-and-a-half? Every day she visited him, and the visits were becoming briefer – not greatly, but enough so that he noticed. And with every meeting Danny's heart ripped open a little more, bled a few more drops.

_She's kiddin' herself. Sh' thinks she needs meh, but really…_ It was hard to even touch upon. He tried to console himself. He'd seen her through all these years – provided for her, protected her, been brother and father for her. His chest constricted as he fought the grief.

'_Ve gotten her this far – she's with her own. I c'n go out – make some'in a mesel', get some money. May'b I'll come back s'me day. An' may'b I won' be completely worthless. _

A polite knock sounded on the other side of the door. Healer Airmid came in, balancing a tray of food for Danny. When she smiled a greeting to him, he gave the much-tanned woman a weak twitch of the lips.

Airmid kept her face polite, but was deeply troubled. She had a bit of Empathy – and what she was getting from this boy was, by and far, deeply dangerous if left repressed. She wondered if she should talk with his cousin.

Leaving the food on a stand next to the bed, Airmid took the last of Danny's bandages off.

" 'M I good t' go now?" he asked her.

"Maybe in another day or two, to keep it safe." The boy nodded to himself. The Healer felt an even greater surge of despair than she had a moment ago.

_Definitely need to talk to her._

Running footsteps halted in front of the patient's open door. Miranjela panted heavily.

"Airmy – burn victim, bad, need you now," the newly-graduated threw out before dashing back the way she'd come. Airmid glanced at Danny. He waved a hand dismissively.

" 'll be fine. I ain't an invalid no more, anyhow." Airmid left quickly to deal with the new arrival, completing forgetting about having that talk with Danny's cousin.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Danny snuck into the room quietly, using a pocket-knife to open the locked door. He treaded softly to where Ari lie sleeping. He looked at her, trying to memorize her face. His sigh was no louder than a butterfly's breathing. He willed himself to keep from crumbling right then and there. He laid his letter to her on her desk, where she'd hopefully see it when she woke.

Ari twisted uncomfortably, brow furrowed in dream. Danny leaned down and kissed her forehead, stroking her hair to calm her.

Danny didn't wait to get outside to let the tears flow of their accord.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari was confused. Aldora and Tanbal were dancing on the top of the bench near the salle; Mairwey was cheering them on while wearing a muslin dress and tiara. Caedance watched the pair in pain – from their hideous dancing, or Aldora's choice of partner, Ari couldn't tell.

From nowhere, Devissa grabbed Ari and shoved her on the table, Hyndin waiting for his partner. The boy was dressed in garb that would rend him near invisible in a forest, and silver feathers were tied in his deep, black hair. He began twirling her about, their rhythm matched by Aldora and Tanbal. Before she could ask what was happening, Hyndin let her go at the edge of the bench. She fell farther than three feet of the table.

She landed in a field of cool grass, vivid flowers all over. The sun was bright and blessedly warm, but plenty of clouds patrolled the skies, enough to overlap almost all traces of harsh light and blue sky.

Laying on her back in relaxation, a shadow fell over her face. Blinking in the shadow, she found her cousin leaning over her. His expression was that of deep agony; tears spilled from his eyes.

Ari was paralyzed, unable to go after him as he left her with a kiss on her forehead and tears in her hair. The sky turned black, freezing everything.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

She woke, immediately uneasy. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she turned to look out the window; false dawn lazed on the horizon.

_What…?_

Ari sighed. She sat rigidly still as she saw an unknown letter standing on her desk, unmarked. She knew she'd locked the door, and no one in their right mind would come through the window when the room's occupant slept in a bed beneath.

She silently slid her knife from the sheath under the pillow, prepared to defend herself if that was the case. Ari got up quietly, checking the wardrobe, under the bed and desk, and finally the door. It was locked. Dropping to a crouch, she unlocked the door slowly, ready for attack.

None came. She looked down both ends of the hallway; no one was there. More confused than in the dream, she searched the outside of the door to find if the lock had been picked. From what Ari could guess at, it was a pocket knife. More confused – and more anxious – than in the dream, she relocked the door as she shut it, sitting down cross-legged on her bed to read the mystery letter.

Having no idea who it would possibly be from (or what its contents contained), she broke the small wax seal on the back reluctantly. She frowned. The seal was that of the Healers' Collegium.

She knew who it was from immediately. Danny's child-like scrawl covered the page. Ari smiled, wondering at the need for sneakiness. Her smile faded as she read.

"_Ari,_

_I'm sory for doin this. But I thenk yo'll be all fine. I'v left. Not shure where I'm goeng. I shoodn't stay – there's no need for me anymoor, and yo'r well taken care of. I wown't tie yo down. Become a Herald. Help people. Don't forget – remember me._

_Love yo._

_Danny."_

Ari sat, frozen. She looked back at the letter only to find that she couldn't focus on the printing. Pain ripped viciously through her chest, a pain she hadn't felt before. Except when her mother left.

_But he's not… He didn'…_ She couldn't even comprehend it. A life without Danny was unthinkable, not possible. Who comforted her? Who took care of her? Who'd been breaking his back for her for the last seven years?

_Danny._

A wretched sound escaped her throat. She clapped her hand to her mouth, trying to block the sobs from pouring forth, but the more she fought, the worse it became, until she couldn't even take a breath properly. Tears stung her eyes.

He was wrong. She _did_ need him. This place was still so alien, and he was the only reason she truly made an effort to fit in. He deserved so much better than he'd gotten. Why couldn't he be happy here, with Ari? Was it her fault? He'd tried to leave her to this new life before. Was it because she was a burden to him? This final thought brought anguish so acute that Ari was left drowned and hollow.

_:Ari?!:_ said Nienori in a frightened tone. The Companion had awakened at her Chosen's wave of despair.

Ari didn't respond. She pulled herself inside her own mind, blocking out everything. It was too much to try to think. She wanted not to feel. But the ragged hole in her heart refused to become numb.

She curled up on the bed, hugging herself.

That was how Aldora found her – unresponsive and unyielding.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Aldora watched Ari sadly. The younger girl stared vacantly at nothing. No matter how much Aldora had tried, she couldn't get her friend to respond to anything. When she first beat her way into the room, needing to use her sparse Fetching to unlock the door, Aldora had panicked, thinking something horrifying had happened. Well, it had for Ari. The blonde had seen the letter, putting the pieces together. After she unsuccessfully tried to rouse Ari, she'd run for the only Herald who she thought could help: Talia.

The Queen's Own could do nothing.

"I've never seen shields this strong. I can barley Feel anything from her. I don't even have a tenuous grasp."

Not even Nienori could reach her. The Companion made herself weary by pacing under Ari's window, making paths in the courtyard's lovely flora. Everyone worried for the pair. The bond between them wasn't yet strong, and as the time passed, it grew weaker.

Aldora had been talking to Ari. Just talking. Reciting poems, favorite stories, and divulging childhood memories hadn't even gotten the girl to bat an eyelash.

Sighing, Aldora sat back, trying to think up ways to pull her newest friend from her comatose state. After Talia had come in, Aldora had seen to bringing in others – Tanbal, Mairwey, Adabelle, even Devissa to read and talk to her. Nothing.

She thought back to when she'd seen Ari first.

_It was in the washroom, when Herald Salemith brought her in–_ Aldora jumped up, Mindcalling Mairwey immediately.

_:I need you to watch out for Ari for a few minutes,:_ she told him.

_:Yeah, of course. Is she up yet?:_ he asked hopefully.

_:No, but I have an idea who might be able to help.:_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Sal stared at the ceiling listlessly. They'd finally found Lael, the Herald interning with Jayck. The fire that killed the older Herald had permanently maimed the other.

_At least we can thank the gods that that damned bell won't ring for Lael as well. Though maybe death is a better alternative to what he has to deal with._ Sal closed his eyes, trying to block out the sight of Lael's ruined body. _He's too young for this. If only he'd waited another couple of years._ Chosen at seven, everyone believed that he deserved to get his Whites early. Now, the sixteen-year-old would carry his scars with him for the rest of his life.

As Suvrina consoled him, an urgent knock sounded in his mind and at his door.

Thinking it news of Lael, Sal jumped up to answer it. A blonde Herald-trainee of about thirteen greeted him hastily.

"Herald Salemith, you were the one who brought Ari to the Collegium, right?" Sal nodded, confused.

"Come with me – please," she begged. She grabbed his arm and began to drag him off.

"What––" He barely had time to close his door before she hauled him through half the palace.

"What's going on?" he asked after a few minutes of bewilderingly following her. "What does it have to do with Ariasha?"

The girl gazed back at him, a determined look set in her eyes. She didn't answer him as she turned around, still clutching his arm. Sal would have yanked it free from her grasp had he not gathered how important this must be to her.

They finally stopped in front of one of the dorms for the Herald-trainee girls. The girl knocked, going in before receiving a response. Letting him go as they entered the room, Sal saw Ariasha lying on her bed, devoid of all life and color. A tow-headed boy held her hand, speaking to her in hushed tones. He looked at the two, standing.

Sal's eyes never left Ariasha's inert form.

"What happened?" he asked them quietly. The girl – Aldora, his memory dug up – moved to the worn desk, bringing him a letter set atop it. Sal took it from her hand and read it, understanding well enough. Through the window, he could see a Companion wearying herself in the garden.

"D'you think you could try to help her?" Aldora asked him miserably. Sal nodded, and wondered why he hadn't heard anything sooner. Maybe his mind was so wrapped up in Lael. Or maybe it was that he hadn't left his room at all in the last four or five days, save to visit the boy. Either way…

"I'll do what I can," he said carefully. The others looked to their friend grimly, before silently heading out the door.

Sal took the chair the younger boy had vacated. He sat in silence, listening to his own thoughts.

"He's your whole world, isn't he?" he asked her silently. She didn't respond. "You've probably never known anything else." Nothing, again. He stared straight ahead at the wardrobe, speaking once more.

"Hell of a way to repay him, don't you think? Just lying there, wallowing in grief. Imagine how proud he'll be when he finds out what you've reduced yourself to, forsaking your Companion."

"What d'you know'f it?" she asked in a rasp, anger tinting her words. He didn't look at her.

"I know that it's painful, I understand that you're hurting. But that is _no excuse_ for all this." Sal caught her tormented eyes. "If you really want to bring him back, give him a reason to be proud of you, to want to come back. You're not alone Ari. No one's ever truly alone."

She sucked in a lungful of air, keeping her pain at bay.

"If you want to go for a walk," he told her, "I know someone who's desperate to see you." Almost against her will, she smiled.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

" 'M great wi' an'mals, 'spec'lly horses," Danny told the breeder. The man and his farm hands laughed cruelly.

"You?" laughed the breeder. "You aren't fit to scrub out graves, let alone touch such fine creatures." He shoved Danny roughly. The others laughed again.

"Get going!"

On the road, Danny sighed. He'd been trying to find a job somewhere, anywhere, without any success. The further from Haven he traveled, there was less and less civilization, to where there was a house or farm every few miles. Not being much of a country boy – and Danny _did_ consider this country – he had a hard time of finding food and water, having to ration out what he'd taken when he'd left.

The air thickened moistly as thunder and angered clouds permeated the sky. Danny had only enough time to think, _Damn_, before it began pouring. He didn't really care. Until he was well past the point of thoroughly drenched, and couldn't see his nose in front of him.

Running for cover beneath a copse of trees, Danny could almost make out the silhouette of a barn across the way.

Walking carefully so as not to slip, he found his way into the dilapidated structure. Feeling like he'd escaped a drowning, Danny dropped his bag and peeled off his shirt, setting them to dry out over an old sawhorse. He debated whether to leave his pants on or not as he placed a bar over the doors. He decided that it would be easier, should he need to get away quickly, if he didn't need to hop about trying to pull up his trousers.

Settling himself in old hay, he closed his eyes, and not for the first time wondered how Ari was. _It's f'r her own good_, he thought repeatedly. _She's fine, she's fine…_

"Dammit," he muttered. He made himself sleep.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Danny woke in near blackness. Thinking it was the storm, Danny ignored the pounding of the door, and thoughts of collapsing beams and roofs. But before long, he realized that the pounding of the door and the hammering of the rain were separate entities.

Danny smuggled his way deeper into the hay as the banging intensified. He wasn't sure who it might've been: the owner of the barn, someone needing to get out of the rain, a territorial band of rabbits, maybe…

Whatever – or whoever – it was, within a goodly number of minutes had managed to bust the door open. The solidified rain, added with darkness, concealed the intruder. Danny held his breath, trying to squirm silently (he could swear he heard himself move despite all the noise) further into his hiding space.

_Leave meh be, leave meh be_, he played in his mind. _Jus' leave meh 'lone._

_:Afraid not, Sweet. I did _not_ just spend a good portion of my life kicking down that down to turn around empty-handed.:_

Bewildered, Danny pulled himself out a ways from the old horse feed.

A soaked Companion stood before him.

"Did some'ne send ye after meh?"

_:No, Love. They didn't.:_ The Companion trotted forth slowly, locking eyes with Danny.

Having an idea of what she was doing, Danny looked anywhere but at her.

"Ye got the wron' pers'n," he told her desperately.

_:Yes, and what comes out my rear end is moonbeams and daisies.:_ Danny reluctantly met her gaze.

Ripped into something far greater than himself, Danny felt it. Peace and power: love forever.

He was speechless. Weakened, he knew she was here, and nothing could ever be wrong.

Danny hastily yanked himself from the harsh bed, flinging himself on her.

Epona laughed.

_:I love you too, Danny!: _He inhaled deeply, committing to memory the smell of rain and earth enveloping her.

_:Now, I don't know about you, but I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible, Chosen. Without drowning, mind.:_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari smiled faintly.

"What?" asked Sal. Ari leaned back into Nienori's neck.

"There's a storm comin'. Ev'n if I couldn' see it, I c'n smell it, feel it. Th' best ones come aft'r summer's ended. The air's warm, but the rain's cold. It's comf'rting."

Sal smiled with the girl, understanding. They sat in Companion's field, as they'd been doing recently, both resting with their Companions. The sky rolled in bleak grays and blacks, but if Ari was fine with it, then Sal would be, too. She was honestly doing better. It still hurt something mighty, but she had people who cared about her; and that was enough to keep her going.

Breaking the subject, Sal said, "I can't believe you haven't started classes yet. At this rate, next year's Chosens will graduate before you."

Ari shrugged.

"A while ago, Aldora said there's still a Companion out, and that's why they're holdin' classes."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

Thunder chased a bolt of lightning across the sky. Ari enjoyed the fragrance of the field, wondering if Danny was caught in the approaching storm.

"Sal?"

"Hmm?"

"D'you think… d'you think he'll come back? Soon?" Sal watched her sadly. He wouldn't lie to her.

"I don't know. I could say 'don't worry about it, he'll be back in a little while', but I don't know that. We'll just have to wait." Ari nodded.

Nienori lifted her head from where it had rested on Ari's shoulder. Ari glanced at her Companion, then looked to where her eyes rested.

Tanbal was full-out sprinting across Companion's Field. Coming to a stop in front of the four, he said,

"Ari – you need – to get – front gate – now!" he gasped out. She stared at him. "Hurry!"

_:On my back!:_ commanded Nienori. Ari held on as Nienori galloped to the gate at the front of the Collegium. Coming to a halt, Ari looked around for whatever it was she was supposed to be looking for, but there were too many people to see properly. She slid off Nienori's back, and began making her way through the crowd.

"Epona's back!" she heard one excited person say.

_Reckon that means I'll have t' start classes, now_, she thought.

Digging through the last person, she stood at the forefront of the crowd. All gazed at Epona and her Chosen, the latter kneeling. Ari squinted, trying to get a better peek at them.

"_Danny_?!" The boy jerked his head up to his Heart-sib. He stood slowly. The tittering of the crowd died as Ari shakily approached.

Nienori gave her a firm push in the right direction. Danny met her halfway.

Neither breathed.

Then…

"Ow!" yelped Danny as Ari smacked him upside the head.

"I'm tired of you tryin' t' run away, Danveer. If you aren't staying this time, damned if I won't tie you up and give you to the Beaks." She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing as tight as she could.

"Sorry, Lass. Won' happ'n again. Epona'd kick me int' Karse if I tried."


	6. Chapter 6: Thief Among Us

**Chapter 6: Thief Among Us**

"Danny_?!" The boy jerked his head up to his Heart-sib. He stood slowly. The tittering of the crowd died as Ari shakily approached. _

_Nienori gave her a firm push in the right direction. Danny met her halfway. _

_Neither breathed._

_Then…_

"_Ow!" yelped Danny as Ari smacked him upside the head._

"_I'm tired of you tryin' t' run away, Danveer. If you aren't staying this time, damned if I won't tie you up and give you to the Beaks." She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing as tight as she could. _

"_Sorry, Lass. Won' happ'n again. Epona'd kick me int' Karse if I tried."_

"Finally! Let's get started then, shall we?" Ari couldn't help but smile at the man. True, Herald Dirk was no beauty, but his personality more than made up for it. The young street urchin took an instant liking to him. Her sensible self protested vehemently to this; but her instincts told her to trust the Herald. Ari sighed internally, wondering if she'd be split like this over all the Heralds. Though Sal was someone her sensibility didn't mind. He was someone she felt comfortable with. Helping save her life didn't hurt either.

She glanced at Danny and grinned. He looked out of place. Being the oldest one there was probably the reason (not to mention his height). The oldest, next to Danny, was maybe a small fifteen, a blonde boy whose name Ari had yet to discover. She and Danny knew no one else in the class.

"Let's start off with introductions. Tell us your name, your Companion's name, and a little about yourself. We'll go about the room, starting with… you, if you don't mind," Dirk pointed to a smaller girl with dark, curly hair.

"Sure." She stood. "My name's Jynnavar – Jynn for short… Kaelzy's my Companion…" She thought for a moment. "…I love food, any kind as long as it's tasty." She smiled, her eyes crinkling with humor as she sat. Herald Dirk smiled as well, clearly pleased. He nodded to the blonde boy. He stood reluctantly. He kept his eyes on the desk in front of him. The others had to strain somewhat to hear him. His cheeks burned as he began to speak.

"M' name's Iriven. My Companion's name is Caill. I come from a Trader caravan." He sat down quickly. Ari's heart went out to him. She thought she recognized his look.

_Like a dog what's been kicked a few too many times an' always looks for it comin' 'round again. _

Next was a girl of around thirteen, her nose slightly crooked. Her movements spoke of quietness, but her pale blue eyes danced with subdued mischief. Shaking her spiky-short hair, she said,

" 'Lo. I'm Abhi, Abhigail. I was Chosen by Zimri. I come from a farm in Rethwellen, and I cook a mean meal." Abhi sat, holding herself casually.

"All right then. How about you then?" He gestured to Danny. The older boy was slightly alarmed. Ari rolled her eyes as he looked pleadingly at her.

_:I don' wanna int'r'duce mesel',:_ he Mindspoke rapidly. The class looked expectantly at him. Thinking rapidly, Ari thought of a way to get him to talk. It _was_ rather mean – what Danny would consider mean – but it would bribe him.

Clearing her throat, Ari began:

"_My Lady's eyes are like the skies_

_A soft and sunlit blue._" This seemed to distract her coz.

"Lass…" he threatened quietly. Ari ignored him.

"_No other fair could half compare_

_In sweet Midsummer hue._" She gave him a meaningful look.

"Is that how it's goin' t' be, then?" he asked her. She raised her brow. The class watched in rapt silence, silently groaning at the much despised song, yet impressed with the lovely voice the girl was singing with.

Danny stood slowly, looking down at Ari with narrowed eyes. Sighing, he shuffled his feet and looked up to the rest of the class, straightening his shirt nervously.

"'M Danveer. This one calls meh Danny." He indicated his coz. "Epona Chose meh a couple'a days afore." Danny prepared himself for the laughter that would come of his low-class accent. None came. "I do wha' I can, an' I been takin' care a Ari since well I can 'amember." Nervousness over with, Danny sat with pride. Ari grinned at him.

Herald Dirk understood the look – he had plenty of sisters himself. The last boy to stand was thinner than most children Ari had seen. She blinked as she glanced at his eyes. She could almost swear they were…purple? A long scar along the left side of his face proclaimed him as tough as any brawler.

"Hi. I'm Eladorin. Winderfall Chose me. I fight well enough with a sword, but knives are easier to conceal," he grinned crookedly. Danny frowned as he felt a wave of – something – radiating from Eladorin. He couldn't place what it was, but he understood the feel of power.

Lastly, Ari stood up. Still reluctant of strangers, her new friends had cured her of some of her reservations. Humor seemed to sit well with the Heraldic lot.

"I'm Ari. Ariasha." She bit her lip, wondering what would be interesting to divulge, but nothing truly personal.

"I'm good at readin' and good with animals. Uhm… I love apples. Don' ask me why, 'cuz I'd never be able to say. Just don' try takin' them from me, or think that you can share." She nodded to herself, and took a seat.

"She means it," said Danny in all seriousness. "Ye'll just get yer fingers nipped off." The others snickered in good humor.

Herald Dirk chuckled a bit, but then became serious. He looked at all of them, committing their faces and names to his memory.

"Now, I want total honesty. How many of you are afraid of becoming Heralds?"

Hands rose hesitantly, all except Ari's and Danny's. Dirk frowned.

"You aren't afraid, either of you?" he asked gently. Danny shook his head, looking over at Ari. They shared a look for a moment. Then Ari looked Dirk in the eye, and Danny just gazed out and off. Dirk didn't see a newly-Chosen twelve-year-old; he saw a woman many years older than this girl. _Gods, did Skif ever have this look in his eyes?_

"I'm a bit worried I'll make a mistake one day, an' end up hurtin' someone for it. But that's how it all is; learnin', an' movin' on, an' fixin' mistakes if I can. Other 'n that? Ain't much else to be frightened for. Least I'll live longer as a Herald than where I was."

The class shifted uncomfortably. Then Jynn caught Ari's glance, and smiled wholeheartedly.

"And there're plenty of apples to look forward to!"

"Ye gods," moaned Danny as he slid down in his seat. The tense atmosphere diminished as the others chuckled.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

The rest of the morning and part of the afternoon was spent on Law, Mathematics, Weapons, History, and Courtly Graces (which really should have just been called Etiquette). Ari squirmed in her seat during the last, feeling amazingly out of place. Luckily, she wasn't the only one.

Abhi leaned over in Ari's direction.

"I heard that courtiers have four different forks, just for one meal!" Jynn turned around from her seat in front of Abhi to say:

"I don't doubt it, but I think there might be five. My mama took me to a noble's house for meal once; if you think there're a lot of _forks_, wait until you see the spoons!"

"But what do they need them all for?" Ari asked. Jynn shrugged and rolled her eyes simultaneously.

"Beats me. The food was good, though." An older woman came out to teach.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Having a few hours free of classes, Ari decided to get some time in with Nienori. Leaning against a fencepost, Ari lazily watched as young and old Companions alike frolicked. Spotting Ari, Nienori pranced over, the warmth of the sun splashing through her veins.

_:Hello, Chosen.:_ she nuzzled Ari. _:How're your classes?:_

Ari thought about it a moment.

_:Strange,:_ she decided. _:But in a good way.:_

At Nienori's suggestion, the two spent the rest of the dwindling afternoon walking, alternately in conversation or silence. Near sundown, they came to an isolated grove of trees, all bearing…

"_Apples_!" Ari made a dash for the nearest tree. As if her life depended on it, she jumped, grabbed hold of a limb, and shimmied up to a large batch of red. She squeaked in happiness.

Nienori snicker-whickered herself silly.

_:Save room for supper!:_ she barely managed to convey.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Hey, Danny!" said Aldora. She looked around him. "Where's Ari?"

Danny shrugged. "We had classes all mornin' an' noon. Then we wen' our sep'rate ways. I think she said somethin' 'bout spendin' time wi' tha' Companion o' hers."

Eventually, everyone gathered together to eat – Aldora's group and Danny's class. All but Ari. Hard-put to resist the call of cooked potatoes, Danny tried to wait for Ari. He had to make sure she got enough to eat.

_:Ari? Lass, where are ye? Me 'taters are gettin' chilled!:_

_:Runnin'!:_ she replied.

Danny didn't have long to wonder what she meant. A few moments later, his coz came skidding through the door. Everyone in the room quieted, looking up at her. She seemed not to notice. Smiling as though everything was natural, Ari made her way to sit with her friends, pockets bulging strangely. Her clothes were scuffed, and luckily had only one tear, at the knee. Her hair was a mess too. The only part of her unscathed and clean were her hands.

All at her table stared openly at her.

"Lass," Danny said uncertainly, "where've ye been?"

Ari put a hand to an over-stuffed pocket, bringing out an apple.

"Nienori lead me to an apple grove," she said, biting down. Danny slid away slowly. Iriven, who was on her other side, followed suit, remembering introductions from earlier.

"Ooh, apples! Can I have a bite?" Mairwey reached a hand out.

"NO!" said all from Orientation class. Mairwey jumped back as if stricken.

"Okay! Sorry! I don't want one anyway." He went back to his meal, mumbling about crazy people and fruit. Abhi leaned over to explain it to him.

"I think Nienori an' meh are goin' ta have a talk," Danny said pointedly. Ari shrugged.

"If ya want, Danny. It's alright, though; I memorized the path there."

"Gods save us all," said Mairwey glancing heavenward.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

The next day, Ari and Danny were walking to the salle, discussing (well, really Danny was lecturing Ari on) restrictions.

"I und'rstand yer addicted, Lass. Now it's time t' lower th' dosage some."

Ari dug through her pocket, dismayed to find no more fruit within.

"An' that's another thing: ye'll eat all them fruits from the trees in days, if not sooner. Wha' 'bout them critters what survive from that stuff? Ye'll starve 'em." Ari jerked her head towards Danny.

"What?!" she said pitifully. Danny just nodded. This seemed to sober her considerably. "I could still have some, though, couldn' I?"

"Aye; as long as ye don' pick the tree's bones clean."

A group of blue outfits passed them. One member, hair a yelp of fiery red, bumped Danny so that it was almost a shove. Nonetheless, Danny said politely, "pardon".

" 'Pardon'?" A girl sneered. Ari recognized them for what they were. Nobles. She was worried, but managed a blank face.

One of the boys next to the redhead shoved Danny hard enough to make him stumble. "Did the _thing_ say 'pardon'?" he asked. The others laughed nastily. Ari felt her heart beating harshly, the blood in her veins boiling from anger and adrenaline. She discreetly put a hand to her knife, ready to brandish it.

"I think it did," said an attractive blonde. They completely ignored Ari.

The redhead grabbed the front of Danny's shirt, pulling him in closer to the other boy's body. Danny was taller by two or so inches.

"Your kind aren't welcome here, street trash," he said with quiet intensity.

Ari was in the wrong position to hit him with the butt of her dagger. Overhead, a crow called out to her. Ari made a plan to ask the bird for help should things go south.

Just that moment, Tanbal came jogging along the path, stopping in front of the commotion. The redhead let Danny go, wiping his hands on his breeches in honest disgust.

Tanbal put an arm each around Danny and Ari. He smiled brightly. Ari grinned to herself when the Blues realized how much bigger Tanbal was than any of them. He even topped Danny by a good four or five inches.

"Are there any problems here, Daigh?" Tanbal asked redhead. Daigh narrowed his eyes, but shook his head.

"Excellent!" beamed Tanbal. "Otherwise, we might have to have a 'get-together', our friends and yours. I'd hate to think you might want to cause us trouble, Daigh." He used the noble's name as if it were an obligatory slight.

Ari silently cheered for her friend.

The Blues dispersed after that. Keeping his arms around them, Tanbal told the cousins:

"Whatever you do, stay in groups. Or at least in sight of the teachers. I don't know which one's nastier; Daigh, or his younger sister Ceara."

As it turned out, Danny and Ari were late to Weapons. Tanbal had been sent to find them. When pressed for the reason of holdup, Danny told Alberich and the others what had happened. Alberich looked off for a moment, and then nodded. To what purpose, Danny was unsure.

"I really hate nobility," said Devissa, head – as always – within the confines of a book.

"Isn't that, like, hypocritical somehow?" Mairwey asked her. Devissa pulled her head out.

"Not if I ever for a moment thought the nobility was good for anything."

"But you _are_ a noble, aren't you?" he pressed. She rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but I'm one of six daughters. On top of that, I have four brothers. No one pays close attention to me or my 'unfeminine' ways because I'm an afterthought. I see things from different perspectives because I'm looked over. Not that I mind actually," she added. "I don't want those kinds of people after me at all."

Mairwey nodded, understanding.

"I think we should get Tanbal a congratulatory apple, don't you?" Mairwey suggested. Ari glanced at Mairwey. She thought she heard an undercurrent of teasing in his voice. But it was the kind of teasing boys only used for girls, wasn't it?

"I'd rather an orange if you don't mind," Tanbal said quickly. Ari grinned. Maybe she would ask Aldora about the teasing.

When practice was through, and Ari felt thoroughly beaten, she passed a crow in her nest right inside the edge of a grove of trees. The bird was lamenting over the loss of her eggs.

_:What happened?:_ she thought tentatively. The bird didn't even glance at her.

From the bird's mind, she saw images of the red-haired boy she'd just run into, crushing the crow's eggs with his fist and batting at the mother with a stick to keep her at bay. A slightly larger male landed next to his mate, as grievous as the female, but deeply rageful.

Ari grew livid at the thought of such callousness.

She communicated that if they should need her for anything to tell her. The male looked at her, sizing her up. Finally, he lifted a wing in assurance.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Ari fell into a schedule as the weeks went by. Morning classes (including Weapons), were followed by lunch, History, Shielding for her Mindspeaking and ThoughtSensing, and Courtly Graces. Afterwards, she would spend time with Nienori, sometimes in the apple orchard, and sometimes not. She spent an increasing amount of time with Sal as well. She brought Danny along so he might get to know the Herald. Neither of the trainees mentioned their troubles with the Blues.

Danny might have been staying in groups, but that didn't stop the young nobles. He might come to his dorm door to find someone had decided to urinate everywhere, including the handle. Danny also had rotten vegetables thrown at him, and sometimes a bucket of water would be thrown out the window as Danny was passing beneath.

_This is gettin' ridiculous_, Ari thought to herself. She knew Danny only bore it because of their class. From a young age, both had been brought up to understand that they were lower; and should they ever come head to head with the higher-ranks, even if the lower was in the right, the higher would not be questioned in any wrongdoing. If it had been someone else, Danny would have already sought his revenge.

Ari was sick of it all. She said as much to Abhi, Aldora, and Devissa one day.

"I'd sorely like t' seem 'em pay," she grumbled.

"Why don't you? _Make_ them pay!" said Devissa, shutting her book. Looking excited, she asked, "Do you have any plans?" Ari, who had no other experience except frightening Novice Wiztoelt, shook her head in aggravation.

"That's all right," Abhi told her. "I have some thoughts on the idea."

Two hours later, the four were set up with a plan. They would put it into action once the Harvest Festival was in swing. Ari wondered if she could find a way to have the crows help. She was sure they would agree.

Trotting up from the path, Garreth waved them hello, his lute in one hand. Sitting down to tune it, he asked the girls if they'd heard the "scandal".

"What 'scandal'?" Aldora asked.

"Apparently, someone's been stealing jewelry and whatnot from the nobility, what? Most of it belongs to the Kebby family."

"Isn't that Daigh's clan?" Aldora asked.

"Quite, what, what? I also heard–" He looked sharply at Ari.

"Heard what, Gary?" Devissa urged him. He lowered his voice.

"I also heard that Danny's the prime suspect."

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

"Why would _Danny_ want to steal jewels? We don' want for anythin' here. Food, clothes, a warm place to sleep… Only stuff he _ever_ stole was food. But we needed it."

"…Don't they have other suspects?" Sal asked her. The two sat in the apple orchard, discussing the latest string of thefts. It had been less than a week since Garreth told them about the robberies.

"Not that anyone's willin' to talk about. I've heard some such about maybe a servant doin' the deed, but mostly, everyone's jumped up on seein' it's Danny. What do the other Heralds think?" Sal fiddled with his dagger. Ari swore it looked familiar, but now was no time to be thinking on it.

"They're giving him the benefit of the doubt. They think the bluebloods are getting all excited over very little. Selenay's even been dragged into it. She's losing temper quickly. She told Lord Kebby that it could've been anyone with access to the rooms."

"What'd his _Lordship_ think of this?" she asked scathingly. Sal laughed gruffly.

"He more or less implied that she was covering it up."

Ari bit into an apple ruthlessly.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

"Ari! ARI!" She turned. Garreth ran after her. It was a little after midday, and Ari was heading out to visit with Nienori.

"Ari! I just heard – Daigh's getting Herald Kyril to search Danny's rooms!" he said with as much breath as he could manage. If Daigh had gotten Kyril…

"Seneschal's Herald?!" she yelled. "How long ago?!"

"Not ten minutes." Ten minutes? She might still have time.

Ari sprinted as hard as she could towards the boys' dorms. Danny's room was on the second floor. It was too risky to try his door, but climbing almost wasn't a challenge. Danny always locked his window, but Ari had no trouble getting in.

Scurrying inside the room, Ari began to pull out drawers, panting all the while. Her muscles were tiring, but she was still working as quickly and quietly as she could. She returned them to their normal order as well. She stood in the middle of the room, trying to think of where Daigh would've hidden it. She had no doubt he would be conniving enough to steal jewels and then hide them in Danny's room. But where could he put the jewelry without Danny noticing?

_Think Ari, think!_ It struck her. The mattress! Pulling it up, she found the trinkets beneath. There was enough there to set Ari and Danny up for life had they been in the slums still. Of course Danny wouldn't notice it. How could he? He'd never slept on a bed a day in his life until he came to the Collegium. She gathered them all in the pockets where she normally kept her apples. Making sure she'd gotten everything, she had to figure out where to put them so they would be found.

_What do I do with 'em?! Oh, gods!_

Numerous footsteps and voices were growing louder.

_Damnit!_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Daigh smiled smugly to himself. This was going better than he'd planned. In no time, that piece of dung would be out of here.

Herald Kyril knocked on the door, waiting for a response before he entered. Nothing seemed out of place. The room was rather meticulous, but then again, what did the scum have to toss about? The Seneschal's Herald and two guards began searching.

Daigh desperately wanted to shout at them "Look under the mattress! It's under the mattress!" But that would ruin everything. Instead, he pushed himself past his patience.

They had searched every nook and cranny in the room, _except_ for under the mattress. Finally, one of the guards lifted it up. Daigh puffed out his chest, waiting to hear "Aha!" or "Here it is boys! Let's go arrest the thief!" Instead, the guard only said:

"Nothing here sir." Daigh nearly dropped from surprise. Herald Kyril turned to him.

"It seems Danveer Bartul is innocent."

"Then you didn't check everywhere! He did it! I _know_ he did it!" Daigh screamed.

"What evidence do you have?" the Herald asked. Daigh sputtered indignantly.

"He comes from the dung-infested slums! What more proof do you need?!" The elder looked at the young noble as he would a petulant child.

"I think we should have a talk with your father, Dayune," Herald Kyril said.

"It's Daigh! _Daigh_!"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

It was all Ari could do not to fall off as she stifled her laughter. She was still hanging on the side of the building, just beneath Danny's window. They hadn't even bothered to check if the window was locked or open. Didn't want any thieves escaping, now, did they?

Waiting a few minutes longer, Ari descended. She went as fast as she could on her near-useless legs. She came to a grove, settling herself along the inside, up against a large oak. She rested her head against the rough bark. She had no idea what to do with the jewelry. She could turn it in, but how could she explain it? Maybe if she left it anonymously?

She jumped as a pair of crows cawed above her. Flying down to sit along her outstretched legs, the mated crows she had met days earlier stared up at her, heads cocked to the side in inquiry. Her mind wriggled, trying to make sense of something. A flash of brilliance struck Ari dead on. She knew how she could involve the crows. She didn't even need to change her original schemes for revenge she was plotting with her friends – this was just a little something extra.

_:Want revenge on egg-crusher?:_ she asked them. The large birds jumped up and down excitedly, cawing loudly. Ari hushed them gently.

She described her plan as fully as she thought they could understand. The crows paid very close attention.


	7. Chapter 7: I Solemnly Swear

**Chapter 7: I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good**

:Want revenge on egg-crusher?:_ she asked them. The large birds jumped up and down excitedly, cawing loudly. Ari hushed them gently._

_She described her plan as fully as she thought they could understand. The crows paid very close attention._

"Are you sure we've got everything mapped out?" Ari asked, jittery. She was extraordinarily nervous. At any moment, things could go downhill, and they would be had.

Abhi waved her hand dismissively, unfazed. "It'll be fine. Not only do we have the blueprints memorized and the hardcopies destroyed, we have people who know what they're doing."

Ari was still rather unsure, but Nienori told her to be optimistic.

_:You have Companions on your side, beloved. We won't let anything too grievous happen.:_

_:Too grievous!: _Ari mind-shouted.

_:We'll be _fine_, Chosen. Allow your friends to help.:_

Ari reluctantly relented. It would be better if it was all happening today. But, as Devissa had pointed out, it would have been "very unwise"

"_We have to do this in a timely manner. It'd be no good to do all this in one day – less is more. We don't want the boy to figure out we've done everything we can and he doesn't have to worry anymore. We want him jumpy, paranoid, and mistrustful. You've seen how his lot get __to Danny."_

Ari did. They sometimes did several things in the space of a day, then left off for three. If nothing else, this would keep Daigh on his toes for the two weeks until the big finale at the Harvest Festival.

"I'm still worried. Is it wise t' have so many people in on it?"

Aldora chose that moment to chime in.

"It's alright, Ari. These are people I know can be trusted, even the other Blue we're working with."

Ari was, as she generally was after being introduced to someone new, suspect of this girl Eithyna. But the girl's good-natured playfulness and enthusiasm for excitement and ruckus were slowly winning over the former urchin. Bushy-haired and supernaturally intent on learning, Eithyna was the one catching the holes in their plans, and working to circumvent disaster.

"Just be sure to catch a nap this afternoon, so you can make it through the night. 'Thyna's taking care of our assignments. She's taking no chances that anyone, teachers included, get suspicious as to why our group randomly decided to not do their work when mischief is afoot."

Ari nodded. She still didn't feel the giddy anticipation that had engulfed the others, but she allowed herself to worry less. These were her friends – they wouldn't lead her astray.

_:EXACTLY!: _Nienori shouted. Ari jumped from the unexpected remark.

"What?" Devissa asked quickly, a worried expression taking form over her normally sardonic features. A little surprised at the hint of concern, Ari smiled wryly nonetheless.

"'Nori shouted at me. I seem to have grasped a concept."

_:Finally,:_ the Companion rejoiced. She deliberately gave Ari a picture of herself dance-trotting on the field, very upbeat. Ari giggled, and Devissa's face morphed back into her usual aspect.

"Everything's taken care of. Remember, you _have_ to meet me a candlemark past midnight, next to the big oak parallel the stable."

Ari frowned.

"Parallel means…means...next to it, dunnit?"

Devissa smiled encouragingly – shocking Ari that she had several other expressions not tinted with mockery – and nodded.

"Right, then." Abhi pretended to dust her hands off on the sleeves of her shirt. "Let's get to class, shall we?"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari was taking Devissa's advice to nap to heart. Straight after Courtly Graces, she made her way through the halls that led out and to Herald's Collegium, when she was hailed from a side room. On edge as it was, Ari was spooked, thinking one of _their lot_ was after her now, too.

Crouching with her back to a wall, she drew her knife, ready for a fight.

Sal held his hands out, eyes only slightly wide, and Ari was reminiscent of the night she had first seen him.

"Sorry," she apologized. Sal smiled wryly.

"Understood." His expression became serious. "So, how's Danny?"

Ari felt a flash of guilt at what she was soon to be participating in. However, at thinking of Danny himself, terrified to go anywhere alone, her resolve hardened. They wouldn't get away with what they were doing to him. Not anymore.

Sal saw Ari's eyes tighten. He knew the feeling. He'd thought that in recent years, things like this had died down. _Obviously, I was wrong._ Sal had never seen anyone quite so distraught as Ari was over it all, though she never said much on the matter. Feeling greatly like an adult who could do nothing but tattle, Sal had spoken to as many of his colleagues as he could, Heralds and non-Heralds. But every time he spoke with Ari, he found that even with warning his peers, Ari's cousin was still being tormented.

"It's still bad," was all she said, voice uncharacteristically flat.

Sal gestured to the window with his head.

"Want to talk about it?"

Ari stood very still. She wasn't sure if she could talk to Sal, as comforting and understanding as he was, without telling him what she was secretly up to. What if he told on her, on all of them? What if Daigh found out? That would make things a thousand times worse.

She was greatly tempted to eavesdrop on his thoughts, just to see if he was planning on giving away any information she might give him. But she wasn't being threatened, not physically anyway, like she thought she had been in the dean's office not so long ago. Sal was her friend, and friends were supposed to be trusted.

She'd just leave out talk of retribution on very deserving redheads.

Nodding, Ari moved towards Sal, and the two took a walk to the apple tree.

_I'll nap just b'fore midnight, is all. I'll be fine._

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_:Ari. Ari. ARI!:_

Ari whipped up from her bed, very bleary-eyed and very confused. What time was it? Had the morning bell already rung? Was she late to class?

_:No, but you were supposed to meet Devissa ten minutes ago.:_

"Damnit!" she cursed quietly, trying hurriedly to rub the sleep from her eyes. Having fallen asleep with her shoes on, all she needed was to put on her coat. She stumbled several times on her way to the door, but could only spare a moment to hope that no one heard her clatter and came to investigate. She was in such a hurry that she forgot to take her key and lock the door behind her.

Quickly but quietly closing her door, she drew Shadows around her hastily, and did her best to flat-out run to the oak tree, where she was sure an angry Devissa waited.

Ari was right on that account. Devissa wasn't _quite_ livid, but was extremely agitated. De-cloaking, Ari slipped silently up to the Blue.

"Mind telling me _why _I've been waiting for you for over twenty minutes?" she whispered furiously. The two strode to the stables quickly, in a hurry for time lost. Grabbing two of the heavy buckets hidden in the hay in the corner, Devissa passed them to Ari.

"Sal caught me after Graces and we got to talking," Ari whispered back.

"So you skipped your nap, is that it?" She grabbed two buckets for herself, the other stuffs in her pockets.

"Yeah," Ari mumbled.

"Well, it'll be fine, just tell me about it later. Let's just get started. Now, which one is Daigh's?"

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari yawned for what seemed the two-hundredth time. She was done trying to be discreet about them. Devissa kept sending her meaningful looks throughout Law, but Ari was past trying to heed them. The words in her book blurred before her eyes. Maybe a quick rest wouldn't hurt.

Putting her head in her hand as she had seen chronic nappers do many a time before, Ari had only a few seconds before she was well and truly asleep.

Garreth, who happened to sit in the desk to her left, felt it was better to let her sleep, having seen just how tired she was this morning. As best he could, he tried to shield Ari from Master Boren, the substitute until their regular teacher came back from a bout with a head-cold.

Garreth wrote a quick note to Aldora, who always asked questions, and was likely to draw attention to herself, and thus to Ari behind her.

_Ari asleep behind you. Don't raise hand, get her caught._

He passed it to the blonde as it seemed she was about to protest whatever Boren had just said.

She glanced over the scribbles, and then turned to ascertain Ari's condition for herself. Satisfied, she nodded slightly. Doing her best with her smaller frame, she scooted back and made herself as big a cover as she could. People could say what they would of her, but Aldora took care of her own.

Devissa, who had had it in mind to distract the substitute anyway, did her best to ask even the simplest of questions to keep Boren's attention off Ari's side of the room.

The ruse worked. There were some questioning looks from the other students when Aldora didn't raise her hand to question or rebut a statement. But all in all, Ari got back some of the sleep she had missed the night before.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Lael fought wakefulness with all the strength he had. The nightmares were better than reality. He couldn't stand being in pain day after day, week after week. True, the Healers said he was healing well. True as well that he would, under good conditions, be able to get out of bed and walk around in another few weeks. But what was the point? He would be hideous the rest of his life, and doomed to stay at the Collegium – what Herald could help people who were frightened to death of him? Not to mention Shansa.

It was only five months ago that he had said goodbye to her for his internship. He could still see her in his mind's eye, hair all gold, eyes a sparkling green, a delicate frame, and a smile so lovely… She hadn't come to visit him once while he'd been laid up in this sodden place. As he did whenever he thought of her, he asked himself if she somehow didn't know and so didn't visit. And then he wondered if she was too horrified at the thought of him maimed to be able to look at him for any one moment. He wished so much she was here to talk to him, to read her silly poetry to him, to hold his hand.

But his one and only visitor (because he didn't count the Healers checking on his progress as "visiting") was Salemith Walving, who had graduated with – and been a good friend of – Jayck, Lael's mentor who hadn't survived the fight.

_If only I'd died with him._

Sal was due for his second visit of the day any time now. Lael couldn't stand the man's prattling about this and that, trying to be optimistic about the younger man's situation. What Lael really wanted had nothing to do with pointless stories and hope. That was for children who didn't know any better.

Lael felt the familiar brush against his mind of his Companion, Kaleb. He quickly locked his mental shields into place. Lael knew how upset Kaleb was, but he couldn't bring himself to speak to him. Not yet. He was too ashamed that he yearned for death, but very unwilling to give up the desire.

"Lael?" Sal asked softly. Lael sighed quietly, and opened his eyes. The dark haired man pulled up a chair from the corner to set it next to Lael's bed.

"I heard you'll be able to get up, soon," Sal started off, a smile on his face.

"Hooray," Lael rasped. That was another thing – besides being hideous and chained to the Collegium from now on, he would also sound like a dying frog for the rest of his life.

"Do you need some water?"

Every day, the same damn question after he spoke. _Do you need some water?_ _Some water would have been nice when I was _on fire _that day in the mill_. _Water won't fix anything now._

"I'm good." Lael wouldn't admit that he was thirsty. So what if his throat ached to be cooled? He didn't need any gods accursed water. Though what he wouldn't give for some good ale, something that would make him piss-drunk. That sounded good.

Sal took a deep breath and then exhaled. _And now he'll blather on about nothing in particular until I'll wish doubly I was drunk._

For the several minutes following, Lael was only aware of a sort of buzzing from the older Herald, a buzzing created out of sheer stubbornness to tune out anything the man had to say. Lael gazed at the ceiling, noticing again the one small gray spot he wish someone would clean because it was driving him insane.

It felt like his hearing popping into place when Sal spoke Lael's name somewhat sharply.

"If you really don't want me talking, all you have to do is say so."

_I would, but that requires me caring to acknowledge you._

But upon seeing Sal's hurt expression, Lael made a small sigh and mumbled an apology, and to continue. But Sal was now at a loss as to what to say.

_Wonder of wonders. Will he leave now?_

"I don't suppose you heard about the jewel thief we've acquired?"

This piqued Lael's attention. Jewel thief? Where were there such riches to steal among the Heralds?

"No."

And so Sal explained about which noble's shiny baubles had been stolen.

"It happened about two weeks ago within a few days' time. Then it just stopped. One of the sons of those robbed tried to accuse a new Herald-Trainee of the crime."

"But he didn't do it?" Curse it all, Lael was interested in the story. Who ever heard of a Trainee stealing at the Collegium? And he was certain that the stories he'd heard of Herald Skif didn't include out-and-out burglary.

"There's no evidence. His cousin, Ari, says she's absolutely certain he didn't do it. I tend to trust her evaluation – she's been nothing but honest since I've met her, and she's as close to him as would his own sister be."

"What is she, then? A Bard- or Healer-Trainee? A full?"

"No," Sal smiled. "She's Chosen, too. You should have seen how it happened. Her Choosing was without a doubt one of the most exciting I've encountered. I saw it happen, actually."

He was already mad at himself for showing this much attention. He knew he should just drop the subject and not say anything more. It was harder than he expected.

That silence had come back.

_Gods be spat upon, don't ask, don't ask…_

"How was she Chosen?"

_Damn!_

Lael really couldn't resist an interesting story, no matter how much he tried. When Sal started talking about the animals coming out to surround all the men, Lael had to ask why, but he nearly choked. Sal handed him the glass of water from the table next to the bed. Though he didn't want to give in, Lael's curiosity demanded he ask. He drank as little as possible, but it was still a third of the water.

As Sal continued weaving his tale, Lael tried to picture the young girl, so incredibly Gifted and so jaded. He didn't think he could relate at all to her life before being Chosen; Lael had been born the son of a well-off merchant, and had never wanted for anything. Luckily his parents and siblings had been convinced that it was better to visit him once he was more recovered. Their letters alone made him feel like a coward for wanting death so badly; it would have been harder to resist had they spoken to him in person.

"You said Danny was being bullied, didn't you?" Lael asked after Sal mentioned the thefts again. "Do you think that maybe one of them is trying to frame him?"

Sal nodded. "It's been thought of, but without any evidence or consent, his rooms can't be searched."

Though he knew so little about her, and none of it from personal experience, Lael had a feeling none of that would stop Ari from doing what she could to prove her coz innocent.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

After his Logic class, Garreth found Devissa and Eithyna walking towards the stables.

"So you've heard, what?" he asked Devissa. His eyes flickered to Eithyna for a moment, but feeling himself about to blush, he steadfastly decided to keep his eyes locked on Devissa.

"About the prank? I don't think there's anyone for miles who hasn't heard."

A wicked glint of her eyes told Garreth all he needed to know about the culprit. Wanting to see if she'd tell him herself, Garreth continued questioning.

"Have you seen it yet, or are you going to look again, what?"

The three walked together in silence for a moment as Devissa stared searchingly at Garreth, blue-gray eyes making him nervous with their intensity.

"You know, Garry, you're a lousy liar."

Garreth sighed. "I know. But at least I have my good looks, what?"

He saw Eithyna crinkle her nose in a smile and grinned in response. Devissa raised an eyebrow, but thought it wise to leave off commenting.

"I suppose. Are you going to ask if I had anything to do with it?"

"I was taking my time, what?"

"Okay, Garry." The older boy sniffed playfully.

"So… _do_ you have anything to do with it?"

"Only half a something. My partner in prank shall remain anonymous for the time being."

"Of course, what?" Garreth knew from the incident in Law that it could only be Ari. She never slept in class. Besides, it was her cousin being harassed. Garreth knew the two were as close as siblings, and was sure Ari would go to any lengths to help Danny.

Still a ways off, Garreth looked around, to be sure no one was close enough to hear.

"What about the stablehands that sleep there? Didn't they hear you?"

Devissa grinned like the cat that ate the canary.

"They heard not a peep. We were awfully quiet, and the horses ignored us. True noble-blooded beasts that they are."

It was no secret that Devissa hated the nobility. Just as much, she hated anything associated with them, their "fine" animals included.

Finally reaching their destination, the three were among maybe six or seven others trying to get a good look at Daigh's prized stallion, painted pink with flowers.

Eithyna was the only one who hadn't seen the horse yet out of the three. She quickly covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. She was rather glad the horse didn't take offense at all the laughter. She would have thought the beautiful animal would be ashamed to endure derision because of its newly-colored state. But Archen, the name of the horse as declared by the plate on the horse's stall door, was much too excited to do anything other than bask in the attention. She also noticed that, because of his very gracious acceptance, those who came to see him gave him a treat, and laughed some more as he pranced about his stall.

The men in charge of working the stables had found it hysterical that hothead's horse was splashed with such femininity. They hadn't wanted to risk a dressing-down from Lord Kebby, so they'd sent a runner to tell him the news. It wasn't their fault his lordship was too busy to hear anything, nor was it their fault his boy didn't feel like exercising his poor animal today. Any kind of scolding might be worth it, though, just to see the stallion happy for some attention for a change. And who were they to deny the masses their entertainment?

Still grinning, even after a second view, Garreth leaned over to whisper to Devissa.

"Will that paint wash out?" She nodded.

"We intentionally mixed it so it would come out easily. Didn't want the poor thing to suffer, as much as I don't like–"

"I know, what?" Having had their fill of the sight, they turned to leave for their respective classes.

"Hey, guys!" Mairwey hailed. He came sprinting up, breathing heavily. "Have you seen Ari anywhere?"

"Not since Law an hour ago," Garreth answered.

Devissa frowned. "Was she not in maths with you?"

He shook his head quickly. "Abhi and I are the only ones in there with her and she didn't show. And Master Lond didn't get a note from her or anything."

Thinking quickly, Eithyna said, "Dev, you have Weapons next, right? Go tell Alberich what's happening. Garry, do you know where Danny is?"

"We have Logic together next."

She nodded. "Good. Go to class, ask him if he knows where Ari is. I don't want to make this into a bigger deal than it might be. Besides, I'm certain Alberich will know what to do. There's no need to cause Danny to panic. I'll go tell Master Refflan I'm needed elsewhere – he'll let me off."

"What about me?" Mairwey asked.

"I know you really want to help Mairwey, but I think it best you go to class and not worry. If we need you, we'll get you." Mairwey looked as if he were about to protest, but the look Eithyna gave him made him back down. He knew it was reasonable, no matter how much he wanted to be involved.

As soon as Mairwey turned back around, the other three split up.

Devissa ran as fast as she could to the salle.

_Let her be okay, let her be okay!_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Author's Note: I like cliffhangers, don't you? ; ) As I've stated several times on my profile page, I'm über sorry it's been (literally) years since I've updated. But now that it's summer – and I've graduated – I'll have plenty of time to update.

Also, I drew and colored what Daigh's horse loosely (_very_ loosely) looks like. It's on deviantart(dot)com under the same penname, WolfMusic, and the title is "Archen".

As always, if you have any questions, comments, anything at all, feel free to either **REVIEW **(hint:hint) or PM me, and I'll respond as quickly as possible.

**Serinity Dawn: **Valient WILL be making an appearance soon.

**Adara: **Thank you for reminding me of the truth spell – I'd honestly forgotten!

Thank you to everyone else who's been patient throughout all this time. You guys make the writing worthwhile (even if it does take forever to crank out another chapter).


	8. Chapter 8: Too Little, Almost Too Late

So, this is definitely a more serious chapter, and deviated from the way I'd originally meant for everything to happen. But I think it works pretty well. So, if anyone has any questions, comments, or con-crit, just let me know via reviews or PMs.

Also, I'm putting together a playlist for the chapters I have so far. So, if anyone has any suggestions, that would be very cool. I'll post said playlist on my profile page when the time comes (soon).

Dedicated to **stargirl0507** (for being so awesome and my fiftieth review!!!)

**Chapter 8: Too Little, Almost Too Late**

_Devissa ran as fast as she could to the salle._

Let her be okay, let her be okay!

Ari was so tired she could hardly stand it. Her intention had been to get an apple (or three) from the apple grove between classes for some energy. Somewhere between climbing up and reaching for a ripe fruit and picking it, she decided that a nap seemed like a far better idea. Settling into a sturdier branch, she laid down. Ari slept lightly, and so saw no problem as long as she got to class on time. She hadn't expected to sleep quite so long, nor wake up the way she did. Frozen and clinging to the branch, she tried to fight the remaining fuzziness of sleep still affecting her system as Daigh and three other Blues came strolling through the apple grove.

"…can't believe that piece of dung did that to my horse!"

Ari paled, both fearful and embarrassed. She was certain they'd somehow found out she'd painted Archen. If they knew she was here…

"Let's just get him after class, give him a proper reprimand," one of the unknown Blues said, a savage smile on his face.

"Him"?

_Danny!_

Ari's heart sped up, so much so she feared the boys on the ground would feel it if they put a hand to the trunk. And then her anger caught up to her. She was tired of Daigh and his merciless bullying, so tired of it. But she knew that even if she had been the same size as any one of the boys beneath the tree, she wouldn't be able to take on four of them. As long as they left soon, she could get to Danny before they did.

"…wait here for a bit. I'm starved!"

To Ari's absolute horror, the same boy with the savage smile climbed the tree Ari hid in. She prayed he wouldn't come up as far as she was, but her prayers went unanswered.

"Hey!" cried the Blue, and he grabbed at her sleeve. Ari was too shocked to fight, and fell to the ground on her back. In a great deal of pain, she tried to suck in air. But having had the wind knocked out of her, Ari panicked, trying to draw in air unsuccessfully. She saw Daigh standing above her, a look of dawning recognition on his face. Grabbing her by her collar, Daigh lifted her for closer scrutiny. She finally managed to gasp a breath.

"I know this bitch!" he shouted suddenly, making Ari twitch a little. "She's Scummy's kin!"

Before she could defend herself, Daigh punched her in the stomach. Ari doubled over, and she couldn't tell whether the pain in her back or the pain in her stomach was worse. Heart beating frantically, Ari ignored the pain and screamed as loud as she could. However, her breath wasn't fully back yet, and her scream was more of a strangled whisper.

"Shut up, you stupid whore!"

Ari bent over again as Daigh punched her in the stomach a second time, and she almost vomited. She knew in the back of her mind that she should be trying to run away, despite the pain she was in. Before she could command one foot to move, one of the Blues grabbed her short horse tail tied hair, dragging her backwards and off her feet. In a thoughtless frenzy, Ari grabbed at his hands, trying to scratch and claw to make him let go. Her eyes stung from the new pain she was feeling.

In her state of terror, Ari forgot that she could cloak herself, forgot she could call for help without words, forgot she could shake every apple from its tree and bombard her attackers. But all she knew was what was happening at this moment in time. Her mind was blocked from Nienori, and though Nienori could feel her fear, the Companion didn't know where her Chosen was.

The other two boys had joined the hair-puller, and each took one of her arms. With a disgusted look on his face, Daigh took a swing at the Herald-trainee. She managed to twist her head away in time. Missing his target for the Blue behind her, the red-head shrieked in anger, holding his hand to his face as Ari whimpered from the forceful tug at her locks.

"You fucking bitch!" the hair-holder cried out. Ari, fearful of more, tugged desperately at her arms, hoping the two's grips would slacken enough for her to free herself. They didn't, and any hope of escape was dashed.

An arm wrapped around her throat, yanking her backwards.

"Helom, Treiy, let her go," he hissed. "I have a fun idea. Pull down her pants, I'll hold her still 'til it's my turn."

Ari felt her stomach turn and bile burning at the back of her throat.

Digging into his arm with renewed fear and ferocity, the boy let go enough for Ari to scream loud and high.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Alberich had put everyone into a team. With him were Devissa, Eithyna, and Hyndin. Devissa had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, something that told her things were very, _very_ wrong.

As if to prove it, a blood-curdling scream came not far in front of them. All breaking into a dead sprint, they reached Ari's apple grove.

Four Blues, one of them Daigh, surrounded Ari. One of them had his pants down, his manhood hanging out. Ari was flailing, feet kicking as one of the others tugged at her own pants.

Devissa, Eithyna and Hyndin clapped their hands to their ears as a horrible sound came from their Weapons Master's throat.

The four boys paled, all releasing Ari. Gathering her ripped leggings to her waist, she stumbled away toward her rescuers, sobbing.

The boy with his pants around his ankles hastily pulled them up. That seemed to spur Alberich into action. Yet just as he strode forward, Nienori thundered into the orchard, the whites of her eyes showing all the way around.

Gasping, Ari reached out to her Companion, struggling to run to her. Nienori cantered to the girl, throwing her head over Ari's shoulders as her Chosen clung to her neck frantically.

Ari's friends quickly followed suit, surrounding her, touching her shoulders and head reassuringly. Ari turned to them as a whole, clutching at them just as fiercely as she had the Companion. Finally letting down her mental blocks, every moment of the terrible ordeal flowed from Ari's mind into Nienori's.

Head thrown back, Nienori screamed in a voice eerily similar to a woman's. She bolted past Alberich, toward the boys. Before they could react, Nienori was rearing up on her hind legs, kicking out. Alberich shouted at her to stop as one of her hooves caught her Chosen's would-be rapist in the shoulder. The boy fell over, his compatriots turning tail and running away.

"HALT!"

Alberich's voice echoed through the apple grove, planting the boys where they stood.

The other groups, having heard the commotion, finally reached the place of action. Reluctantly breaking from Ari, Eithyna told the others what had happened as Alberich roughly picked up the injured Blue and herded the other three with him. Hyndin and Tanbal rushed over to help the Karsite.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari tried to remember if she'd ever been this exhausted. Recalling what had lead to her Choosing almost four months ago, she decided that that had been less draining. She wasn't sure if it was because gaining Nienori had made up for all the tumult of that night, or if it was just normal street rat resilience. But she wasn't a street rat anymore.

_Maybe this place's made me soft,_ she thought tiredly. If she wasn't inches away from sleep, she almost definitely would've cried.

Nienori, who'd clung to her mind since Ari's unblocking earlier, sent her as much love and praise as she could.

_:But I didn' do anything! I was almost…they were goin' to…:_

_:And you didn't give up for a moment, Chosen! You fought, you struggled, you did everything within your power to stop them.:_

Ari ran her hands through her still-sweat-drenched hair. She dearly wanted a hot bath, but she needed to talk to the ones Mairwey referred to as the "higher-ups." That was why she was sitting on a bench outside of the queen's meeting room with Master Alberich.

_:I didn', 'Nori. I really didn'. I didn' use my Fetchin', I didn't use my Shadows, I didn' do _anythin'_! I was damn near useless! Everything Master Alberich's been teachin' me, I didn' use any of it. My mind went blank! I failed him and myself.:_

_:Everything requires practice. You'll keep practicing, and the next time something like this happens, you'll be ready.:_

_:Knowin' my luck, the next time somethin' like this happens, I'll end up worse than what I am now. Prob'ly dead.:_

Nienori squeezed more tightly around Ari's heart and mind.

_:I will _never _let that happen, Chosen. I'll never let anything like this happen again.:_

_:How? You can' watch me every minute of my life.:_

_:You think that now!: _Ari felt the Companion smiling in her mind. Ari felt her own answering smile, but couldn't quite make it come forward. There was much too much for her to be able to smile just now. Maybe later she'd be able to.

She was lost in her own dark thoughts for a moment before she thought to ask Nienori something that she should've asked before this moment.

_:What do we do with the jewels? Do we leave 'em somewhere for a Herald t' find?:_

_:No, love.: _Nienori was very straightforward. _:I think you should tell Alberich everything. The plans, where the jewels are, and how bad the teasing was for you to even consider this. It was exciting to think of going through with the plans before today. Not now. …Ari, forgive me?:_

Ari thought she might cry at the tone of Nienori's voice.

_:What for?:_

_:For almost getting there too late.:_

Ari's eyes began watering, and she felt her chin quiver. She tried her hardest to repress it.

_:It's okay, 'Nori. I'll be okay. Nothin' t' forgive.:_

Ari took a deep breath, both to clear her head of the stuffiness that came with crying (or almost-crying in this case), and to steady her nerves.

She turned to Alberich, who sat less than stoically beside her.

"M–" She had to clear her throat. "Master Alberich?"

He turned to her, his gray eyes stormy.

Ari was afraid he was angry at her. She felt herself hunch over in fear.

"Angry you think I be at you?" He asked rather quietly.

Ari swallowed audibly in the quiet room. She didn't answer his question.

Alberich sighed, and, to Ari's shock, put a hand on her shoulder.

"Angry I am not at you. Angry I am with myself."

"…Sir?"

Ari didn't make a habit of calling her teachers "sir" or "ma'am," but in her esteem, Master Alberich had earned the respect.

"Taught you well I have not. Prepare you I haven't for more serious encounters. Cost your life it almost did."

"B-but, Master Alberich, it-it wasn't you. I panicked. I couldn' think."

"My job it is to teach you not to panic, to always keep your wits."

"I…I'm sorry, sir. It's my fault–"

"No!" he barked. Ari jumped. Master Alberich pat her on the shoulder to reassure her. "No. Not your fault. Mine. Train harder you will, longer. Though tell me not you did of increased bullying. Why?"

Ari felt panicked at the prospect of having to tell him everything. Nienori gave her a gentle push with her mind.

Still a little hesitant, Ari told him everything, from the beginning of it all (which she'd told him about once before, though vaguely), to the very frightening end, and all the while, he asked few questions, otherwise silent. She was only partially ashamed to be crying after retelling what had happened that day.

"I was so mad they got t' Danny, I jus' wanted to get 'em back. An' I know shouldn' be cryin' now, but I'm still scared, e'en though they prob'ly won' get to me again. Not today, an'way."

"There no shame in crying is. Allowed you are."

"'Cause I'm a girl, or 'cause I'm still a kid?"

"Because earn it you have."

Ari sniffled a little more, feeling number as the tears gradually dissipated.

The two sat in silence for several minutes before a chilling thought occurred to her.

"Will this go t' trial?"

"Yes."

"W-will I have t' testify?!"

Master Alberich turned to look her in the eye.

"Yes."

Ari tried to stop a whimper that escaped anyway. She absolutely did _not _want to have to retell the story again. She was even hoping Alberich would tell the story to the queen, Talia, and Senechal's Herald without her having to say anything at all.

Ari would've said the Weapons Master frowned, but it was a very slight crinkle of his brow, and she wasn't sure if he was thinking or if he'd finally gotten a whiff of her. She really did need that bath.

"Great bravery today you showed," he said. "Fight them off you did not – but try greatly, refuse to give in, you did. What all that is, to retell your act of bravery before others? Nothing. No longer they harm you, no longer they harm your kin."

Ari raised her aching legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Despite his strong words, she just wasn't sure she could. And even if she did, what punishment would they get? A slap on the wrist, Ari was sure. All nobles were treated like nobles – untouchable, do-no-wrong.

_:Not this time, Chosen,: _said Nienori.

_:What do you mean?:_

_:Ask Alberich. Ask him what the boys' punishment will be.:_

"…Sir?"

He looked at her, waiting.

"What, er, what punishment'll they get?"

He nodded, to himself Ari thought.

"From the Collegium, expelled they will be. For red-haired, fine for stealing from other nobles. Assault and attempted rape of a Herald-trainee they all charged with will be. Witnesses there are many. Get away with their crimes they will not."

Ari took a deep breath.

_:They _**will not** _get away with it, beloved.:_

"Okay. I think… I _think _I can do it."

Alberich looked at her from the corner of his eye, sitting perfectly straight and forward.

"Proud of you I am" was all he said, looking forward again.

A flush of embarrassed pride rushed through her. She hadn't done anything but stave off her attackers with the barest of defenses, and she was going to swallow her fear to tell everyone what happened to her. She didn't think it was much to be proud of, but ifAlberich thought it was, then it must be.

They waited.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Lael wanted to kill them. He could feel heat along his face where the burns weren't. His fists were clenched, pulling at some of the already-healed tissue on his arms and hand.

If he hadn't been in the condition he was in, he might've ripped them to shreds. He couldn't reason to himself why he cared more than if it had been some other Herald-trainee, and he quite frankly didn't give a damn.

Next to him, Sal stood seething as well. He'd only learned of the news half an hour before, and came straight to Lael after looking in on Ari.

"How is she now?" Lael asked, clearing his throat.

"Frightened, I think, but not as bad as I hear she was. She told me herself her friends don't let her travel in packs less than ten, and she's had a sleep over every night this week."

Sal had been visiting his aunt who'd come to town for the month when everything had happened five days before. He was angry, mostly at himself for not doing more to prevent it. But he couldn't dwell on it, because Ari was alright (for the most part), and the bastards were already being tried. Otherwise, he might've hunted them down. Probably in a very large group with everyone else who wanted to get at them.

"When's the trial?" asked Lael.

"Two days. They've sped things up, by-passed other hearings for this."

"The Healers say I've improved drastically. I've even started walking around some."

Sal smiled warmly, though he was still distracted by his fury. "That's great, Lael!"

Lael pursed his lips in what Sal _thought_ might've been a smile.

"Are you going–" Lael coughed, and moved to grab the glass of water beside his bed. Sal handed it to him, waiting for him to finish his question.

"Are you going to the trial?"

"I'll be sitting in the front row," Sal said ominously.

Lael was silent for a moment, debating it seemed.

"I want to go with you. Maybe not sit in the front, but I want to go."

Sal was extremely surprised. He hadn't thought Lael cared so much. But maybe this was part of the recovery. Sal didn't think it would be bad for him. As long as he didn't tax himself, Lael might do well. Though the trial itself might stress him out…

…_Along with the rest of us._

"You should prepare yourself for dramatics from Lady Kebby. She's not known for her quite acceptance of things," Sal gave as a warning.

"So she'll be screeching."

"Like an eagle diving on a hare."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari wasn't sure if she was shaking enough for the whole room to notice or if she would wet herself before they did. She couldn't see the blue light surrounding her (as she'd been told the Truth Spell was supposed to be doing), but it seemed everyone else could.

Horribly nervous, Ari's hand kept straying to her side, where her dagger would normally be. But she'd been advised by Talia earlier that it wouldn't be wise to have it on during the trial.

She tried to look straight ahead as Talia lead her through the events of that day, so she wouldn't have to look at the four boys sitting at a table to her right. When she finally came to the most difficult part, she started shaking even harder than before, and began to stutter.

_:I'm here, beloved, it's alright, it's alright.:_

Nienori was doing her best to soothe her Chosen, but it wasn't working as well as either of them would've liked.

"Ari, do you need a moment?" Talia asked in a quiet and gentle voice. Ari took a breath to tell Talia that a moment would be just great when a woman – whom Ari suspected was Daigh's mother if the bright red hair was anything to go by – suddenly wailed in the otherwise silent room.

For some reason, hearing Lady Kebby scream wanted to make Ari cry. Here she was, trying to tell everyone what had happened to Danny, what had happened to _her_ when she had been so reluctant to say anything in the first place, and this vile bitch was causing an uproar because she should've reigned in her son years ago.

_Is _anything _ever fair?!_

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

He was sitting in the very back of the room, holding himself back from strangling the mistress Kebby. As soon as she'd shrieked, he saw Ari – who he wasn't expecting to look so frightened from the way Sal always spoke of her – balk further, quaking in her shoes, eyes obviously moist even from this far away.

He didn't use any of his Heraldic influence, but Lael willed Ari to calm, to go on, to be as strong as she possibly could. He didn't think it would actually work.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Ari could see all of her friends visually supporting her – Mairwey and Garreth verbally as well – but she just couldn't stop herself from quaking. She tried looking around, maybe hoping to see someone or something that would inspire her to pull herself together.

In the very back, a man – at least, she thought it was a man – sat, hooded in a dark cloak and wearing a dramatics mask over his face. She wasn't sure if it was the strangeness of the man wearing a mask, or the bright green eyes that contrasted with the gray of the mask, eyes that were latched directly onto hers.

Something in her took a very big breath, and then exhaled, releasing her anxiety, and snapping her practical self back into place.

All of this happened within several minutes of Lady Kebby's screaming and subsequent crying jag. She was lead away from the room very unwillingly.

Talia turned back to Ari after trying to quiet the crowd that was murmuring.

"I'm sorry, Ari," she whispered.

"It's okay," Ari whispered back. She smiled a small smile, and Talia smiled widely in return.

Ari looked back to the man in the mask and cloak. Somehow, as she spoke, it felt like she was speaking to him, telling _him_ what had happened. And afterword, she felt perfectly relieved. Not recovered, but just relieved.


	9. Chapter 9: Reluctant Revisit

I know it's been awhile, but here I am. Three new chapters for all my incredible fans! (And more to come after!) So, until next time, Happy Christmahanakwanzika!!!

**Chapter 9: Reluctant Revisit and Hushed Happenings**

_Ari looked back to the man in the mask and cloak. Somehow, as she spoke, it felt like she was speaking to him, telling him what had happened. And afterword, she felt perfectly relieved. Not recovered, but just relieved._

The day of the Harvest Festival found Ari and the others roving the large tented areas in the streets of Haven. Ari hadn't been left alone since the attack. And as much as she cared for (loved?) her friends, it was starting to grate on her nerves.

Surreptitiously watching from the corners of her eyes, Ari saw her friends, pointing to this and that, acting jovial and upbeat. She felt like a traitor for not feeling the same way.

_And to think I was excited not long ago._

Feeling horrible for feeling horrible, she just couldn't seem to work her way out of…not depression, but a bone-deep sort of weariness. She'd tried to shake it, but had given up fairly quickly. Her friends didn't understand her darker mood. They sympathized as any good friends would, but she knew they were trying to pull her back into something she wasn't ready for.

_:Normalcy?: _Nienori asked. Ari nodded.

_:Sounds about right.:_ Nienori "hugged" her Chosen tightly, and Ari was glad. But…

_:Think I could escape without notice?:_

_:Possibly. Until every man, woman and child in the Guard, Guild and Heraldic circles came running out to find you.:_

Ari sighed. She felt so _stifled_. She needed time alone, and few people recognized that. And they were worried she would…what? Be attacked again? Break down?

Looking into the crowd around her, she saw a group of Blue boys and her stomach dropped to her feet. She felt sick with panic, close to tears. Even after she realized it couldn't be _them_. Her eyes burned, but she refused to cry over something so stupid. She remembered Talia telling her it was normal to cry for no other reason than it felt like she had to.

_But I don't have to! Gods, what's wrong with me?_

_:Do you want to come back to the Collegium, love? I'll come to get you.:_

Ari felt the implication. 'Nori didn't only just want to be with her; the Companion was offering her respite from so many randomly placed hugs, and sympathetic looks when they thought she wasn't looking, and the feeling of being herded and guarded at the center of a troupe.

Ari closed her eyes, asking herself if she could make it through the afternoon, for her friends.

_:There's always tomorrow,: _'Nori thought-whispered.

Taking a deep breath, Ari knew that her decision had been made already.

She felt Nienori drift from Companion's Field and onto the path that would eventually lead away from the Collegium. The Herald-trainee just had to wait a little while longer, and then she could go sit in 'Nori's stall, a place she didn't think anyone would look for her, bother her, or insist they do something to keep her mind "off it".

She only started a little when an arm went around her shoulders. She knew her cousin so well she was sure she could pinpoint his heartbeat among a hundred others, but that didn't keep her heart from thudding against her ribs in fright.

"Sorry, coz. …I'm not gon' ask how ye are, lass, I got eyes. Jus' wanted t' let ye know that… well, I understand, jus' a little. Bein' afraid o' the color blue," he whispered.

Ari had trouble focusing on that thought. Danny, scared of something? But he was her protector, big and strong. Even with the bullying, Ari had never thought of him as truly frightened. Anxious and tired, a little fearful, but not _scared_ in the way he was suggesting_._

She couldn't make much sense of it, and didn't try to. So she patted Danny's hand and said nothing in response. She didn't know if she was supposed to, but she had a sense that he understood what went unsaid.

Danny didn't exactly herd her along, but she moved when he – and, by extension, the rest of the group – moved. Her friends fanned out on either side of her, so that she and Danny could see the front of the booth they now stood at. Many different glass figurines in many different sizes and colors sparkled at her.

"Psst, Danny! Come over here a moment?" Devissa asked. Danny nodded and, half-hugged Ari, maneuvered himself through the group to the other side of the booth. Tanbal stepped up in Danny's place, and Ari chided herself for being mad at the boy when he was only trying to look out for her.

A man on the other side of her asked the glass maker about prices. It took her a moment to realize that the man was Sal, and that that was why the others hadn't scooted her over and away from him. Seeing her, Sal smiled and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you're probably tired of hearing it, but how are you, really?" he asked.

"Well," she said, "I _am_ tired of hearin' it, but I'm…fine. I s'pose."

Sal frowned, looking as though he wanted to press her. He seemed to think better of it, because instead he said, "You did well at trial. I hope it doesn't sound condescending to say I'm proud of you for telling your story, even though you shook to tell it."

Ari focused on a small figurine of a bird, feeling her eyes cloud up.

_Will I forever cry at random?!_ Nienori said nothing to it, and Ari supposed it was because the Companion had spoken to something like that before.

When she felt gathered enough, Ari looked Sal in the eye.

"Thanks, Sal. I dunno what to say, really, 'cept I was surprised I didn't piss myself in front of ev'ry important Herald at Court."

Sal snorted.

"Our lot is made of tougher stuff than the norm. Iron wills and iron bladders."

Ari choked out a sound that vaguely reminded her of a giggle. Sal grinned widely.

As much as she cared for him, Ari dearly hoped Sal wouldn't ask any more questions, or comment on anything that would remind her of…

"So," Sal continued. He picked up glass in the form of a clown, the dramatics mask covering its face. She had a sudden image of the man in a similar mask in the court room, the one who'd seemed to ground her during the last bit of her testimony. "Do you think this would work as a birthday present for my nine-year-old cousin?"

Ari raised an eyebrow as Sal handed her the object.

"Depends. This cousin a boy or a girl?" She turned the clown this way and that, fascinated by the way the light hit it.

"If you can't tell from what I picked out…" he plucked the clown from her with such theatrical effect, the glass maker actually gasped. Looking properly abashed, Sal apologized, and gentry replaced the figure where it had been standing.

Ari shook her head. "It's not exactly what I'd get for a coz, not unless they particularly liked clowns."

"Then, pray tell, what would _you_ pick out?"

Ari looked at him, and then around the booth.

"Oh!" she said. "Well, _I_ would pick it out for myself…"

"Which one?"

Ari pointed to a palm-sized figure.

"Children generally love horses," remarked Sal as he looked.

"No," she said. "It isn't a horse, it's a Companion. Can't you tell?" she teased.

Sal rolled his eyes.

"Sal!"

Ari smiled sardonically. Danny threaded his way back to Ari from across the booth. As soon as he was close enough, her coz gripped Sal's arm in an almost brotherly sort of way, Sal gripping back just as familiarly. Ari knew how well the two got along, and how long their conversations could get. So, before she became trapped in something even worse than her own personal guard team, Ari told Sal, "Like I said, Sal, go for the Companion figurine. Boy or girl, everyone dreams of having a Companion sometime or other."

Danny, understanding that she was getting out of earshot, hugged Ari to him for a moment, looking her in the eyes. She looked right back, feeling the tiredness leak from her eyes.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Ari felt bad for sneaking away from her friends without telling where she was going, but Nienori had told the Companions of those in the group – should anyone panic at seeing her gone, they would inform their Herald-trainees – that she was taking her Chosen back to the Collegium for "quiet".

If anyone thought it odd to see a creature as large as Nienori, without so much as a halter on, walk placidly through the displays and looking at the wares, no one said anything. Poking their heads into several places, Ari found several rather pretty things she wouldn't have minded buying for herself.

_:Go ahead, Chosen. You have your money with you, and you don't need to set any of it aside just now. Splurge!:_

Ari smiled, but resisted the urge to purchase anything. Not having any money herself, she received a monthly stipend so she could purchase what she needed, for classes or other practical things. Having spent her life with no money, the moment she'd received coins, she'd hoarded it, being an absolute miser unless she _had _to buy something. She knew it was silly to think, but she wanted to save as much as she could so that she would never have to worry again. No matter how much 'Nori tried to convince her that Heralds weren't exactly street corner bards where it came to money, Ari couldn't help clinging to the round pieces fiercely.

_:One or two baubles? For my sake?:_

_:Not even one. No matter how…pretty, or how nice they might look in my room.:_

_:Then buy yourself a birthday present!:_

Ari frowned. Her birthday? Was it that time of year again?

_:When is it?:_

Nienori swung her head to look at her Chosen. _:Don't tell me you've forgotten your own birth date!:_

Ari rolled her eyes. _:No, I mean what's today's date and how many days 'til I'm thirteen?:_

_:Three days until the twenty-first. Epona can speak of nothing else because Danny can speak of nothing else.: _Nienori said wryly.

_:Should I tell my friends about my birthday?:_

_:No, Chosen. I have a feeling they already know.:_

Ari stopped where they were walking between set-ups, narrowing her eyes at Nienori.

_:Are you plannin' something, you wicked creature?:_

_:Me? Oh, Havens, no!:_

But Ari felt Nienori's smile inside her mind.

"Falsehoods!" Ari shouted. The dozen or more people in the area turned to look at her strangely, as she reddened to her toes.

The Companion hooted with laughter as they walked away, whickering loudly and stamping her hoof.

"Oh, hush!" said Ari, smiling and slapping Nienori's shoulder, playful rather than serious.

The booths were getting further and further apart until they ended completely. The site had gradually moved farther from the streets of Haven into greener areas. It took Ari only moments to realize that they were walking in the direction of the apple grove. Unconsciously recoiling, Ari backed up three paces and threw her arm over her Companion's back, trying to stand as close to her as possible.

Talia had spoken to Ari about revisiting the grove when the time came, but Ari didn't feel ready at all. She hated that those…that _they_ had violated her special place. It was bad enough that Ari hadn't eaten a single apple since that day, where she normally had two or three.

_:We don't have to go in now, Beloved. Another day, another time.:_

"I'm tired of it, though, 'Nori. I haven't seen hide nor hair of them since they were all but banished, but it feels like they're still here, waitin' to grab me again. I don't wanna be scared of boys in Blues, or jump when someone comes up behind me. I just…"

She felt so _weary_. All the time, she felt like crying. She'd never cried so much as she had in the last fortnight, not even when her momma had left her, literally, on Skerry's doorstep. What was wrong with her to be so emotional over something that _almost_ happened but _didn't_? She felt like she didn't have the right to be so upset, like she wasn't truly a victim because she wasn't… violated. Beaten, yes, but not violated.

Ari pressed the side of her face to Nienori's girth, fighting the now familiar sting in her eyes. The Companion twisted her neck to reach for Ari. Whuffing, Nienori touched noses with the trainee too old for her young body. Ari took a deep breath, trying to subdue the knot in her throat and chest that demanded she cry. It took minutes before she felt she might not shed any tears, and all the while, Nienori kept her nose to Ari's. When Ari had mastered it, at least temporarily, she grabbed her Companion's nose and kissed it. She couldn't quite smile yet, but she tried.

_:Let's take the long way, dearest.:_

Ari hugged her as they diverted another way to their destination.

* * *

It didn't take long for the group to notice Ari's disappearance. Danny nearly sprinted for the guard on duty before Epona gave him Nienori's message. Relaying it to the others, they all rebuked themselves for failing to see her departure.

"Do you think we should try to catch up with her?" Abhi asked.

"No," Danny answered. "If she left in t' first place, she prob'ly felt like gettin' some space. I shouldn' be s'prised; everyone's stifflin' her, m'self included."

Everyone was silent at Danny's suggestion. No matter that their intentions were good, they were going about things in a way Ari didn't appreciate.

Before this thought could be taken very far for anyone, Aldora grabbed onto one of Danny's thoughts.

"Speaking of surprises, now's as opportune a time as any. We don't have much of it, only _three days_, on the twenty-first, to pull it together. We are going to surprise the hell out of her. In a good way. Now, I had some ideas…"

"No offense, Aldora," Tanbal told her, "but what in the Havens are you talking about?"

"Ari's birthday!" most of the group shouted. Those who had bellowed turned their heads this way and that, trying to ascertain who had heard, and whether or not that person ran the risk of blabbing to their surprise-ee. Some of them, however, remained blank of face.

Seeing this and sighing, Devissa motioned to everyone.

"Everybody gather 'round. You, too, please, Herald Sal. We have some serious work to do if we want this to go according to the plan."

* * *

It had taken longer than it would have had they gone through the orchard, but Ari and Nienori were now several minutes away from reaching the Companions' stables. They were passing a cluster of trees, and Ari could feel herself tensing, despite Nienori's presence, expecting to be ambushed. The bastards hadn't even snuck up on her, but Ari was frightened no less.

Nienori came to a slow stop, putting her head to Ari's chest to stop her.

_:Listen,:_ she told Ari.

Ari felt her breath catch in her throat. But why would Nienori stop them if there was danger?

Ari listened, and heard movement from a little ways into the trees. Her gripes clenched with her increasing anxiety.

_:It's alright, dear one. It's only another Companion with his Herald.: _

Ari sighed, trying to breathe regularly and feeling even more tired than she had before. She was too young to be feeling this sort of exhaustion, wasn't she?

The girl moved to step away from the woods, but Nienori stopped her.

_:I think we should say hello, Chosen.:_ Ari's Companion looked at her very pointedly. Not understanding (and very reluctant, though more out of tiredness than fear), the two walked into the tree line. Ari shuddered a little.

A ways in, Ari could see a male Companion standing over his sitting Chosen, nudging the cloaked figure affectionately. Ari felt Nienori pull their minds more firmly together, so that when 'Nori "knocked" on the other Companion's mental shields, Ari heard it well.

The Companion turned in answer to Nienori's knock, whickering his hello. Ari noticed the cloaked Herald stiffen, his front turned away from her.

Feeling uncomfortable herself, Ari felt the need to say, "Sorry for intruding. We'll just leave now."

Already turned around, Ari didn't expect to hear a scream of "Wait!" She flinched, but twisted her body back to its former pose. She _wasn't_ afraid, she told herself. And there was nothing to fear from a Herald. Or so she'd been told.

Only after he'd spoken did Ari realize how scratchy his voice sounded, as though he was suffering from a particularly nasty cough.

_:I'm sorry,:_ said the man in her mind, his mental "voice" much nicer to hear, and probably much easier to speak with.

"'S alright," she said quietly. "Hope we weren' intrudin'. If we are, we c'n leave."

_:No, you're fine,: _the Herald insisted.

Ari furrowed her brow, wondering privately at how funny it was that the man had yet to turn around to face them. However, being at the Collegium – and the etiquette courses she'd been taking – had taught her some semblance of manners.

Feeling she should keep talking, Ari said, "This is my Companion, Nienori, an' I'm Ari."

_:Hello, Ari. …My name is Lael, and this is Kaleb.:_

She thought she could sense him bracing himself.

Standing up, the Herald faced her.

"It's you!"

The masked man from the trial stood across from her.

* * *

Finding a lawn table that held eleven people was something of a chore. The alternative was to take a table in the dining hall in Heraldic. After seeing how bare it was, the group decided to sit down (with or without some of the food still out at this time of day), and begin their plotting.

Ever prepared, Eithyna had brought paper and pens, and began handing out blank sheets to everyone, as well as utensils to jot down notes with. Sal took his share, feeling out of place. He glanced at Danny next to him, thinking that the boy – who was the oldest of the trainees – was younger than himself by five years. Danny glanced at Sal, seeming to read his expression of discomfort.

Slapping his shoulder, Danny whispered, "S'not so bad, really. They're good folk, don' care that ye'r grown. 'Sides, this is f'r Ari. She mightn't let on, but I think she needs this sort o' thing bad."

The sixteen-year-old's face took on a serious expression. Having a touch of Empathy, Sal read into Danny's emotions. Leaning closer, Sal whispered just as quietly as Danny had.

"Danny, it's not your fault. You can't keep some people from just being plain evil."

Danny fiddled with his pen and nodded in a distracted way. Sighing, he straightened, trying to pull himself together for the sake of his Heart-Sib.

Not sure what else to say, Sal turned his attention to the girls at the center of the table. Aldora, Devissa, and Eithyna were whispering together. After what felt like minutes, Devissa spoke to everyone.

"Alright. This is our plan of attack so far as we see it…"

* * *

Ari reddened again that day.

_Why did I say that?_ she asked herself privately.

_:Me?:_ he asked in confusion.

"Sorry. It's just…"

What could she say? _You're the one who helped me pull myself together at the trial_? She didn't know how to continue at all. Luckily, the Herald – Lael – spoke, before she could make a bigger fool of herself, ignoring her exclamation.

_:I'm sorry for not speaking to you in the traditional sense. I neglected to bring any water, and my throat…isn't working well.:_

"S'alright."

Both stood in silence for longer than was comfortable to Ari.

_:'Nori, what'm I s'posed to do?:_ she finally asked her Companion secretly.

_:What do they teach you in Courtly Graces?:_

_:That the butter knife goes on the bread plate.:_

'Nori grinned and then said, _:Why don't you shake hands?:_

_:But I already introduced myself! I'll look like a crack knob!:_

_:Trust me, Chosen.:_

How could she begin to argue that?

Feeling very foolish, Ari took a step closer to the strange Herald, holding out her hand. She saw the slight hesitation, almost pulling her hand back. But then he held out his hand, placing it in hers.

* * *

_Gods be damned, I should've worn gloves!_ Lael lamented. She would've thought it odd if he had offered her his left hand rather than his right, the former being less noticeably burned. His left hand also had better dexterity. Fearful she would be disgusted, he almost made an excuse not to shake hands.

_:Lael, it's alright,:_ Kaleb insisted. So he took a breath, put out his hand, and placed it into hers.

He knew she could feel the rough skin and limp grip. But she didn't make a face; her eyes never even flickered to where their skin touched. And then…

…she smiled. And it made him feel warm in a place just beneath his collar bones. And though she couldn't see it behind his mask, he smiled so widely he felt some of the wounds break open. He reluctantly let her hand go.

"You were at the trial," she said. "When I, er, said 'it's you.' I didn't want to sound disrespec'ful. You're mask is very colorful." She smiled again.

She said "colorful" as though it were a compliment rather than exceedingly strange.

_:If it's alright for me to say, I …wanted to tell you that I saw how much courage it took to relive that day. And-I-admire-that,:_ he finished in a rush. He had no idea at all what compelled him to say that, and briefly glanced at Kaleb.

_:I've been good the whole time,:_ the Companion insisted.

_Then staring at that damned spot on the ceiling _has_ driven me insane._

Ari looked down, taking a breath. Her Companion came forward to place her great head over the left side of the Herald-trainee's body, and Ari's hand automatically went to stroke her white nose.

"Thank you," she said in a hushed voice.

* * *

Everyone on her side had told her how proud they were of her to stand up and tell her story so many times that she began to feel as though they were only saying so. Why this man's words made her feel as if he spoke truly baffled her. She'd felt the wounds on his hands, had drawn her own conclusions about the mask he wore. Maybe it was that she sensed what a compliment it was coming from someone who'd gone through troubles in his own life. That was it, she told herself. _No other crazy notions to it._

She continued to draw her hand along Nienori's nose, unable to think of anything to fill the new silence.

_:Ask him about the festival,:_ 'Nori whispered.

Ari looked up to meet Lael's eyes – greener than she remembered that day – and asked, "Have you been through the booths yet?"

She could only guess at any discomfort from the way he shifted his body.

_:No. I haven't felt very…festive lately._

"I know what you mean," said Ari.

_:Would…you like to sit with us?:_

She checked herself, expecting her skin to be crawling with the discomfort the trees had provided her when she walked in, and was surprised to find that she wasn't as upset as she'd thought. Searching Lael's eyes, she wondered if his was some magic that soothed people. If not, she had no other reason for answering "Yes," to his tentative offer for company when she'd have rather run full speed to her room instead.

* * *

AN: Three things: 1) The month this chapter is set in is November. 2) No idea if they have pens at this point in time, or if they still rely on quills and ink. I vaguely remember Vanyel writing to his parents using the latter, but that was a while ago in the series, and I don't think it applies here. 3) Ari's speech will revert back to what it was in the first few chapters. She had gotten better, but for the next however many chapters she's going to be emotional in varying degrees, and that's what has her slip into her old speech patterns (even as she gets older).

One last thing. I'm putting the playlist here. Make of it what you will.

**Chapter 1**

"My Lady's Eyes" ~ Mercedes Lackey (Ari, Danny)

"Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" ~ Alison Krauss, Emmy-Lou Harris, Gillian Welch (Ari – from the original version of Chapter 1)

**Chapter 2**

"My Medea" ~ Vienna Teng (Ari)

"All I Need" ~ Within Temptation (Ari)

"Lion" ~ Rebecca St. James (Ari, Nienori)

**Chapter 3**

"Let Go" ~ Frou Frou (Ari)

**Chapter 4**

"Welcome" ~ Jump5 (Ari, later Danny)

**Chapter 5**

"It's Not Over" ~ Daughtry (Danny)

"I Turn To You (Hex Hector Radio Mix)" ~ (Ari, Sal)

**Chapter 6**

"Never Let You Down" ~ The Verve Pipe (Ari, Nienori)

"Shake It" ~Metro Station (random fun song)

**Chapter 7**

"In the Ayer" ~Flo Rida ([a mischief-making song] Devissa, Ari)

**Chapter 8**

"In My Arms" ~ Plumb (Nienori, Ari)

"Ophelia" ~ Natalie Merchant (Ari)

**Chapter 9**

"Gravity" ~Vienna Teng (Nienori, Ari)

"Signal Fire" ~Snow Patrol (Lael, Ari)

**Future Chapters**

"Knock You Down" ~Keri Hilson (ft. Ne-Yo)

"Pale" ~ Within Temptation

"Daughters" ~ John Mayer

"My Body Is A Cage" ~ Arcade Fire

"I Knew I Loved You" ~ Savage Garden

"Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)" ~ A.R. Rahman & the Pussycat Dolls

"Never Alone" ~BarlowGirl

"Maneater" ~ Nelly Furtado

"Miss Independent" ~ Kelly Clarkson

"The Boy Is Mine" ~ Monica and Brandy

"Lullaby For A Stormy Night" ~ Vienna Teng

"Requiem For A Tower, Movements 2 and 4" ~ Corner Stone Clues

"Memories" ~ Within Temptation

"Because of You" ~ Kelly Clarkson

"The Tower" ~Vienna Teng


	10. Chapter 10: Déjà Vous

**Chapter 10: Déjà Vous With a Dash of Red Hair **

_Searching Lael's eyes, she wondered if his was some magic that soothed people. If not, she had no other reason for answering "Yes," to his tentative offer for company when she'd have rather run full speed to her room instead._

"–never lost it before, why'd you go n' lose it now?!" Ari shouted from beneath a scrubby bush. Danny had come to her over half an hour before, distraught at having lost his pocket knife. Ari had offered her help in finding it immediately. She didn't know it would be so difficult, though.

"I didn' _choose_ t' loose the fool thing!" hollered Danny from beneath a different shrub.

Both rose, brushing off dirt. Ari had missed a streak on her chin. Seeing so, Danny came over, took his sleeve and rubbed at the spot until it was clean again.

The gangly youth scratched his head.

"On'y place we haven' looked'd be the schoolroom," he said, sighing.

"Which?" she asked gratefully. Anything to not have to crawl around on hands and knees on unforgiving soil.

"Mayhap Logic."

Ari almost towed Danny in her excitement to be inside. Another reason for wanting the privacy of indoors was the irrational fear she held of friends shouting "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at her as she wandered outside. She never cared much for her birthing day; Danny had been the only one to ever really fuss over it, and Ari was pretty sure her ma had remembered two of her daughter's five birthdays they'd spent together.

The room wasn't far from the entrance. Danny, with his long legs, was ahead of Ari by a good few paces. He opened the door without waiting for her, disappearing into the darkened room.

"D'ya mind op'nin' the blinds?" she asked as she stepped in the door. The moment she did, the blinds shot open.

"SURPRISE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARI!!!!"

Ari was stunned speechless as all of her friends cheered and clapped. No less than eight Companions stood outside the window, 'Nori most prominently. Ari's eyes moved about the room, and she noticed the bright banner draped from the middle of the room's ceiling, reading, "Happy Birth Day Ari!" Beneath the banner sat the largest cake she'd ever seen. It was even tiered.

Eyes wide, she could only look at her friends as they bombarded her with hugs and laughter. She couldn't help it; she laughed, and it felt good.

_:Surprised, dear one?:_ Nienori asked her laughingly.

_:Out of my britches!:_ she told her Companion.

"Damn crazies, all of ya!" Ari laughed out. "An' you, Danveer, _you_ made me search for nothin'!"

He threw an arm around her. "They needed s'more time t' put it all up. Took me ages t' fig're out what'd distract ye."

"Hey, Ari, watch the cake!" Aldora said over the din.

Without preamble, the dozen or so candles that were on the top two levels burst into flame. Ari clapped heartily with everyone else.

"Now blow out the candles!" Abhi said, jumping up and down in her excitement. Ari stepped close to the white-frosted figure before her, moving through the small crowd. Standing before it, she saw that it was sitting on a table that went up to about her hip, making the cake perhaps two-and-a-half feet tall. Ari whistled. She wasn't sure who chuckled behind her, but she had ideas. She'd never had a cake for her birthday before. A small pastry with a cheap and tiny candle from her mother one year, but that had been all. This monstrosity _and_ so many colored candles…

"I can't even reach all of 'em!" she said. Danny came forward, snatched her up, and held her so that she could get a good breath and extinguish every flame.

_:Remember, tradition dictates you make a wish!:_ Nienori reminded Ari.

_:What could I ever wish for that'd top this?:_

Taking a deep breath, everyone but Danny rooted, a fist in the air. She almost lost hold on her lungs from wanting to chuckle. Focusing, she kept the air until the optimum moment. Every candle went out. She didn't care if the wish she'd made came true or not. She knew nothing she could wish for would ever be better than times like this.

Danny set his cousin down, slapping her on the back with pride.

"Birthday girl gets to cut the cake!" Tanbal proclaimed, holding a large knife hilt-first to her. Taking it, she moved her hand to four different places before looking about her.

"Now how the hell'm I s'posed to carve this?"

Jynn held out her hand for the knife. Ari, knowing that Jynn knew more about food than Ari knew about animals (which was a great deal), handed the shorter girl the blade. Even at her height, Jynn managed to slice the first, second, and third layers equally, placing them on plates held (and passed) out by Eithyna.

Ari, being the girl of the hour, was given her piece first. But instead of shoveling it down, she went to the window where 'Nori stood, cut her piece in half with her fork, and held out the larger half to her best friend.

_:Oh!:_ was all Nienori could say to that. The Companion delicately lifted the cake from Ari's palm, chewing it in a very ladylike fashion. Ari followed suit.

_:Delicious!:_ Nienori declared. Ari was very inclined to agree, and would after swallowing the mouthful.

Ari was unaware 'Nori had spoken to the whole room until Jynn replied to the praise.

"Thank you, ma'am!"

Ari thought it a very strange occurrence for her Companion to speak to anyone besides her. Stranger still was the thought that Jynn had created it, no matter how much the girl knew about food stuffs.

"Jynn, you made this?" Ari asked after her second bite.

"Yep! Wasn't any trouble. I just had to do the tiers one or two at a time, frost them, put them together, then place the candles at the top. By the end, I had to sit on Kaelzy's back so I could get to the top."

Everyone congratulated the baker as more pieces were dished out. Those whose Companions stood with Ari's were feed the same as 'Nori. Except for one.

_:Who's that?:_ Ari asked.

Nienori looked to the Companion flirting with Mairwey's Laris.

_:That's Valyant.:_

_:The prankster? Wasn't she the one who–:_

_:–single-handedly caused the Chair Crisis? That's her,:_ 'Nori said with no little amount of respect.

Ari was impressed that Valyant had come to wish her a happy birthday. Then again, seeing her work her stuff for Laris was probably a better incentive.

_:Think she'd like a slice?: _

_:I wouldn't interrupt, Chosen,:_ said Nienori dryly.

After everyone had had as much cake as they could stomach, Devissa announced, "Time for presents, everyone. Grab yours and make a circle around her!"

_Presents?_ Ari looked around. Every person in the room pulled out boxes with ribbons and bows, every one of them an individual package. Ari could count the number of presents she'd ever received on one hand, even after have a few fingers chopped off.

She felt her eyes go a little moist.

_Damn tears. Can't even be happy and not cry._

'Nori nudged the girl with her nose.

_:Oh, I'll behave m'self. Just …s'prised an' all.:_

Looking her dead in the eyes, Nienori put her head inside the window as far as she could, reaching for Ari. The trainee raised her hand to her Companion's nose…

…and was drenched by a giant raspberry.

"'Nori!" Ari laughed as she shrieked. The others joined in with the laugh as Garreth handed Ari his handkerchief.

Ever impatient, Aldora shook her box in Ari's direction. Someone had set a chair next to the window when she wasn't looking, so Ari took the seat as her friends took the floor.

She spent every moment of the "ceremony" relishing each of her gifts. She hated having to put them in a pile next to her, but did try to keep it all neat.

Just as she reached her last one, from Sal, the Herald handed her two gifts. Before she could protest, he said, "The blue one is from me. The one in silver is from Lael."

Whispers sounded around the room. Who was Lael? Ari paid no attention. She felt almost embarrassed to have gotten a present from him; they'd only met three days ago, even if she had seen and spoken to him just yesterday.

Ari opened Sal's gift first, balancing the other box on her lap. Ari lifted out the glass figure she'd pointed out at the festival.

"I wasn't sure what to get you, so I had you pick it out. In a roundabout way, of course."

Moved, she lifted the ornament for closer inspection, running fingers over its transparent nose.

"It's perfect!" she told him. "She'll guard my bookcase from intruders."

"What else are Companions there for?" he joked. A great wave of whinnying and whickering came from the windows. "Kidding, I'm kidding!"

Ari smiled, putting the glass Companion back in her box to keep her safe. She took up Lael's gift.

It was rectangular rather than square, and flat more so than broad. Gently untying the ribbon so that it hung over her legs, she lifted the lid.

Wrapped ribbons running around the edges, layers of tiny beads of magenta and smoky gray around the eyes and ribbons, and two-toned paint…

…A mask.

Ari grinned, lifting the present cautiously from its wrappings to hold it to her face.

_This sits with the little Companion._

* * *

_How much longer?_

Sal felt like a little boy again, anxious for his father to come home from the border.

Suvrina chuckled as Sal restrained himself from pacing.

_:Relax, Sal. Otherwise your father will come in to see you've ripped your sleeves from wringing them so.:_

Sal glanced at his sleeves. Sure enough, they were deeply wrinkled from his twisting.

He sighed.

_:I haven't seen him in so long. He barely comes anymore, to the point where I'm starting to question if he's secretly started a new family up there.:_

_:Secret family or no, at least he's promised to stay until the new year.:_

_:That's something at least.:_

A chime of hooves came from around the corner. It wasn't the entrance where his father would come through, so Sal knew it was another Herald.

_Or Herald-trainee._

Ari and Nienori walked toward the gate, Sal assumed, to go into the city.

"Heyla," Sal called out. Ari waved to the man, and made a beeline for him.

"'Mornin', Sal. What're you so antsy for?"

_:See, I'm not the only one who can see you're tittering.:_

Sal ignored her.

"Just anxious to see my father home."

"Ah," said Ari awkwardly. He ran a hand through his hair. He wondered if she even knew who her father was. Skerry Bartul had been her uncle, but where was her father? Sal had never asked her outright, though she had spoken briefly of her mother after Danny had run away.

Changing the subject, Sal said, "Have you talked to Lael since your birthday?"

Ari smiled.

"That I have. Told him I loved his gift – an' yours, too, of course –"

"–Of course," Sal grinned.

"An' then I told him about how gran' the cake was, an' how funny it was to see so many Companions stickin' their heads in the windows."

"Did you mention that most of them had frosting all over their noses?"

Ari snickered. "That I did."

Nienori touched her lips to Ari's hair and then pulled back.

"Sal?" asked Ari.

"Hm?"

"How was Lael…hurt?"

Sal looked at her. She wasn't interested for the sake of curiosity, he could tell. But he didn't know if it was his story to tell, and he told her so.

Ari nodded. "I know. I just…I mentioned somethin' the other day, an' he flinched."

Sal frowned. "What did you mention?"

"That when Danny'd run away, he'd tried gettin' work at a horse farm an' a sugar mill."

Sal winced.

"There, see! You did it, too!"

Sal licked his lips. He didn't want to tell the story in its entirety, and so kept it short.

"The night Embry and I found you, the night you were Chosen, he and I were in a tavern. Our friend Jayck had just died on circuit. Lael was interning with him."

Ari absently began drumming her fingers on Nienori's neck, waiting for the rest of his reply.

"They were chasing after a man who – never mind. They ended up in a sugar mill. The man killed Jayck, incapacitated Lael. He set the mill on fire with Lael inside."

Ari cringed. Sal reached out, patting her shoulder. There was nothing he could think to say after that, so he stayed silent.

Ari began to say something, but before she could, another set of hooves chimed, this time from the entrance. All three watched as an older Herald and his Companion came riding through.

The man came to a stop in front of Sal. Beaming, he dismounted, went to Sal, and wrapped him in a bear hug. Ari and Nienori stepped back politely. Noticing, Sal turned his father towards the two.

"Father, this is Ari and her Companion, Nienori."

"Nice to meet you," he said, sticking his hand out. He shook her hand enthusiastically. Ari smiled brightly.

"An' you!"

Looking between them, Ari said to Nienori, "We best let these two reunion without us, 'Nori. G'bye, Sal, Herald…"

"Pellam."

Nodding, Ari and Nienori skittered off, not out towards the city like Sal had thought, but around the front and to the other side. Sal turned to his old man.

"I'm not going to go to your rooms later to find you've disappeared again, am I?"

"You know me, son. I only do that the day _after_ I've come back."

They chuckled, heading toward the Companions' stables.

* * *

Ari wandered around the grounds of the Collegium, bored almost to tears. Most everyone she knew had gone home for the holidays already; those who hadn't were elsewhere for the day. Danny, since he was staying, was retaking a less than acceptable Logics test; Devissa had gone into the depths of the city to buy presents (something Ari debated with herself about doing); and Caedance and Hyndin were holed up in the kitchens having a cook-off. She thought about trying to find Alberich for the extra practices they'd been doing since after that day ("Dirty tactics you will use, now Cloak yourself!"), but she couldn't muster up much fight.

And Lael…

_Can' believe he wasn' there!_

They spoke every day now, in the same spot in the trees. That he wasn't there was just plain disheartening. She didn't know if he was healed enough to go home for the holidays, wherever his home might be.

Despite the overall gloom of the situation, Ari was at least happy to be outside, in warm clothing, watching a light sprinkling of snow begin to cover the ground. Finding herself within reach of a stone bench, she sat down to watch. Her thoughts took her all sorts of places. But as her mind began to go off, she had to restrain herself from letting down her mental guards.

_Don' wanna end up readin' someone's mind by mistake._

Sighing, she settled back, pretending she was a pot of soup over a fire, blowing out smoke.

"Having fun?"

Ari turned quickly to see Sal and his father strolling towards her.

"Not much. Everyone's busy, I don' feel like readin', and I can' think of much else t' do."

"Well," said Herald Pellam, "I was just lamenting at only the two of us for a game of _Ship and Shore_. Would you like to join?"

Ari frowned. "_Ship an' Shore_?"

Sal nodded. "It's a board game where you're given so many countries, and you try to make war or peace with others."

"Soun's like a class of War Tactics," she told him skeptically. "And I'm not s'posed to take that 'til next year."

Herald Pellam laughed. "It'll be excellent practice, though, I assure you."

Ari looked between them, trying to gauge if she would be intruding on their family time. He'd only come home last week, and she wasn't sure if that was enough time to catch up or not. But seeing as how they were almost towing her to play the unknown game, she relented to go with them.

* * *

"Damn!" Sal shouted. "Did you _have_ to crush my eastern front? You led me to believe you'd never played before!"

Ari grinned wickedly. "Oh, I haven't."

"Donkey droppings!"

Ari leaned over her chair, gasping for breath.

"Let the girl finish her move before you choke her up, son." Pellam told Sal. "And _I_ think it's just beginner's luck. You'll be winning next time. Either that or she's a prodigy, like your old man over here."

"If you're such a prodigy, why is she beating you too?"

Ari gave a burst of laughter that sounded like a cackle, and doubled over once more.

"She's turning as red as a tomato. Maybe we ought to try for seriousness before she forgets how to breathe entirely."

The girl in question waved her hand about as her laughter siphoned off.

"'M okay!" She giggled a little more, wiping tears from her face.

"Now look what you've done, Sal, you've made her cry!"

"I did no such thing!"

And that did it for Ari. She let her head fall to the table, slapping her palm on the board so that most (if not all the pieces) fell over.

"There goes the game!" Sal lamented.

Pellam clapped his son on the back. "Not as if you were close to winning anyway, eh, son?"

Ari pulled herself up suddenly, still laughing, but lightly. She rolled her eyes. From the look in her eyes, she was mindspeaking with someone. After another few minutes, she looked to the men.

"That was Danny. M' cousin," she told the older Herald. "He was panickin' from not findin' me right away."

"Ah," said Herald Pellam, picking up the pieces on the board and replacing them in their box. "Would you and your cousin like to stay for dinner?"

"Oh," said Ari. "I wouldn' wanna impose or nothin'."

"You wouldn't be," insisted Sal. "Give him directions and tell him we have food. I'm sure he'll be here soon after that."

Ari grinned.

"Well…alright."

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

"Great meetin' ye, Herald Pellam," said Danny. "That was s'me mighty fine cookin'!"

Pellam laughed jovially. "Why, thank you, Danny. Come by anytime you feel like flattering an old goose."

Sal snorted. Ari smiled, motioning to Sal that she had something to tell him. He bent down to place his ear next her mouth.

"Y' have no idea how lucky you are t' have such a father, Sal. All the birthday wishes in th' world couldn' give me what you got."

He regarded her with surprise. Again, he was at a loss for words as to what to say to her.

"And just what are you two chatting about over there?" asked Pellam, an arm around Danny, something Danny didn't seem to mind in the least.

"Sal, days like today make me wish I could've given you some siblings."

"Poor Sal'd never win another game again!" Ari commented. Pellam slapped his thigh.

"Right you are, my dear. We'll have to have you two around again, and next time Sal can get whipped by this one over here."

Sal sighed good-naturedly.

"Yes, Father, even a toddler has more progress than I do."

"Well I wouldn't say _that_! I guess you two'll want to be going now, though. Too much time with old people gives you gas."

Ari cackled again, startling Danny a great deal.

"Ain't never heard her do that afore."

Sal watched as Ari, once again, had to catch her breath.

"Must be us," said Pellam. "Together, Sal and I make a wonderful troupe of baboons."

Ari actually snorted. After a moment, Danny grinned, seeming to have decided that he liked his cousin in this state. He looked at Sal, nodding. Sal could only speculate that it was a nod of some appreciation. Sal nodded back.

Slapping each other on the back, Sal and Danny parted ways.

"C'mon, holler bird. Ye oughtta to try f'r sleep now."

Ari nodded, still unable to speak, and held onto Danny's shoulder for support.

* * *

Today she felt confident. Maybe it had been the time with Sal and Pellam, but she felt sure enough to go out into the city to find Midwinter gifts for her friends.

_Good thing I've been savin', _she thought to herself. Reluctant as she was with money, she didn't mind spending some of it on her friends.

She was nervous for the first hour, on alert. But after a few purchases and no ambushes, she began to feel alright. Several stray dogs found her in the crowd of the market, tails wagging. They were brutish-looking animals, but she couldn't see a lick of true fight in them. Having gotten everything for everyone she could possibly think of, she still had money left over. Congratulating herself on being miserly to get to this point, she went in to the butcher's shop nearest her and bought two meaty bones for her new friends.

Taking a seat, she gave the two time to get through their treat, going through everything she'd bought. Pulling out a small pencil and bit of paper, she wrote out everyone's name, then checked them off as she went through the gifts again.

"Damn, missed Tanbal."

Looking at the two dogs, she decided to leave them to their leisure. Standing, she looked around, trying to decide what Tanbal might best like. All she could really think of was horses and weapons.

Feeling more at ease, she decided to meander, taking her time looking for her last gift.

She had two fairly large bags in each hand. Something tickled her in the back of her mind as she came up near an alley. She stopped, checking to see the stands beyond it. Up there was as stand with all sorts of differently painted lucky horseshoes. And in a corner to the side, a fight was breaking out. It seemed a safe enough distance away that she could get the gift and get out.

She took a step. There was that tickle again. It had been awhile since she'd felt it. Switching the bags in her left hand to her right, she discreetly pulled out her dagger and opened her mind to Nienori. The only reason 'Nori wasn't here now was because Ari hadn't wanted to forever be asking the Companion to go with her; how would Ari ever fend for herself if she did?

_:Ari?:_

_:Somethin' feels wrong, 'Nori.:_

_:I'll be there soon. Wait for me?:_

Ari didn't respond as she "saw" Nienori leave a cluster of equally equine friends. She wasn't sure if she was just overreacting.

She almost jumped when she felt something press into her leg. Looking down, the two dogs from earlier seemed to have finished their morsels, and had come to join her once more. She felt a little better. As much as someone might want to fight her, she doubted they could take one look at these hounds and still have dry unders.

The moment she stepped fully into view of the alleyway, three boys grabbed her. She immediately released the bags and brought up her dagger. Sensing the danger, the dogs leaped at her attackers. One of the boys kicked a dog in the side, making the dog yelp. Ari's chest turned fiery. No one hurt animals, _no one._

She pulled Shadows to her, and the boy who'd had the best hold on her was so surprised he let go, even though she was still solid. She hit him in the throat with the butt of her dagger and ducked as another grabbed for where she seemed to be. Him she kneed in the happy-sack.

The last boy looked at his fallen comrades, one struggling to breathe, the other crying out from on the ground and holding himself. He turned to flee.

Ari didn't care that he was making a decision to run away. He'd hurt an animal that had only been trying to protect her. Her limbs filled with rage, and she let it fly. Every scrap of wood, rock, and trash in the alleyway flew at him. She so badly wanted to beat him to death, but at just that moment, both dogs barked. She turned around.

A familiar-looking red-headed girl had a long piece of metal in her small hands. Realizing too late she'd let her Shadows go as soon as she'd Fetched, she twisted out of the way as the crazy girl swung haphazardly at Ari. Both dogs threw themselves at the girl, barely escaping as she swung for them, too.

"You fucking bitch, call off your stupid mutts, or I'll kill 'em!"

_:Back!:_ she commanded them. She couldn't forgive herself if they got hurt again for her sake. They reluctantly pulled themselves back. Teeth still bared and hackles still up, they flanked Ari.

"I'll make you pay for what you did to my family!"

Ari had no idea what she was talking about as the girl rushed her once more. Ari knew the dagger would be little help against a pipe. Quickly reminding the dogs to stay back, she Cloaked herself again.

"_Remember," Alberich had told her. "Clean, fighting is not. Dirty you must be when an opponent facing. Now hide yourself and attack!"_

She did something risky as the red-head flailed around herself, dancing, trying to hit Ari wherever she might be. Ari rushed the girl, hitting her at stomach level. Both fell. But where Ari lost her dagger, the girl still had her pipe, and she didn't take the time to get up to begin swinging again.

* * *

Lael felt horrible for not being able to see Ari yesterday. But as soon as he'd gone outside, the cold had him gasping. Surely it hadn't been that bad the day before? So he'd decided to stay in, thinking that if it was terrible for him, it would be for Ari, too, and reminded himself to find thicker clothing. He hadn't known she'd gone looking for him until Sal had come to see him today and mentioned it.

"You two seem to be getting very close," Sal said in an accusatory tone.

"She's one of the few people I don't feel like strangling."

Sal grinned at him. Suddenly, the man went rigid. His eyes danced. Having spoken with him for this long, Lael knew that someone was mindspeaking to him.

Sal jumped up.

"What is it?" Lael asked.

"Danny. He says Ari's in trouble, but he doesn't know why or where."

_:Kaleb, where's Nienori headed?:_

His Companion was silent for a few moments.

_:She's on her way to the market. Someone's jumped Ari.:_

Lael relayed this news to Sal. Sal made for the door. Lael, ignoring the pain of his still-healing body as he jumped up, followed.

"Lael, you're in no condition–"

"Do you want to waste time in a pissing match, or do you want to get there?"

Sal grumbled, but quickened his pace. Lael followed as best he could, hoping none of the Healers would see him.

None did. Kaleb and Suvrina were waiting for the Chosen just outside, neither saddled.

_:You're lucky we had time to have someone bridle us,:_ Kaleb told him.

Lael had to have help up from Sal. As soon as he was seated, he realized why Airmid and Miranjela had expressly told him no ridding.

_Ari, Ari, Ari, have to get there_.

He ignored the pain as they galloped into the city of Haven, meeting Danny along the way.

* * *

The two boys Ari had taken care of earlier had had enough time to recover (the third boy was still unconscious – or dead – beneath heaps of debris). So Ari now had to avoid the girl with the pipe, the boy with a short sword he'd probably never used a day in his life, and the boy with a large chunk of wood with nails at the end. She couldn't try to Fetch anything from their hands with the time it would take to concentrate enough to do so. She was tiring too quickly.

_Gods damnit! _

Even Cloaked, it was difficult to avoid them. She had no way to reach her dagger, and she expressly forbade the dogs from helping any further. But she'd said nothing to the rats and birds.

Pigeons dived at her attackers, and rats grabbed at their flesh through their fancy clothing. Using the opportunity, Ari prayed that no more animals would get hurt as she made a dive for her dagger. Coming up, she saw that the girl had escaped the critters, heard Ari's noisy fumblings and was raising the pipe for another round of swinging.

Ari focused as best she could, flinging a large piece of wood in front of her like a shield. As soon as the girl struck it, her shield flew to pieces, and Ari had to cover her face.

"There you are, you useless whore!"

Now Ari knew why the girl seemed so familiar. This had to be Daigh's kin, most likely a cousin or a sister.

Ari's heart thudded in her ears. She raised her dagger, as though she could use it like a sword. The girl took the time to giggle breathlessly.

"I'll finish what he should have."

Ari could feel Nienori, still minutes away. Who would save her?

Her mind flashed to that moment on the overpass that seemed like years ago. She'd been hopeless, about to let go of the rail. She'd thought of Danny then, how he would feel if she were so selfish as to kill herself. This time, right now, was different. She was still giving up, but there were so many more people who cared for her, she needed fingers _and_ toes to count them all, and even then that might not be enough. Her memory showed her the moment she walked into that classroom weeks ago to find her friends waiting for her with a banner and cake and presents…

She pooled every ounce of whatever it was that made her heart constrict with happiness in that moment. It gave her the boost she needed to tumble to the side.

Slicing through air, the girl screamed at the boys to hold Ari, so that the red-head could have her fun.

The Herald-trainee's blood ran cold when the girl said that, and she was almost caught. Luckily the boys were still hopping around with rats in their pants and birds in their hair.

_:Now!:_ she told the dogs. _:Try t' grab their arms!:_

The dogs succeeded, both boys crying out and dropping their weapons. Ari's breath was coming in pants, her adrenaline fading. Metal whistled through the air. The girl had caught Ari in the side, and Ari fell on her back. Just like last time, Ari's breath was knocked out, and she panicked for air.

The girl held the pipe at an angle that would turn Ari's head to pulp.

"_On your back, what do you do?" Alberich circled her as she lay on the ground. _

_Look weak an' surprise 'em._

Still struggling for a little bit of breath, Ari didn't have to strain herself to look helpless. Just as the girl raised the pipe a little higher, Ari kicked her scrawny knee and heard a crack. Screaming, the red-head dropped to the ground, her pipe falling halfway on the ground and halfway in Ari's lap. The girl was too busy nursing her knee to grab for her weapon again. Dropping her dagger, Ari took up the pipe, gasping some. She was past the point where she might have been merciful.

Ari swung hard, at just the point Alberich had shown would incapacitate or (if hit with enough force) kill. The girl fell over. Ari wasn't sure if she'd hit hard enough to kill her, but she secretly hoped she had.

She huffed, replaced the pipe for her own weapon, and shakily stood up. Men from the area had grabbed the two boys, hauling the third off. The dogs paced near Ari, still growling, but only faintly.

Ari looked into the eyes of the men who watched her. She knew it wasn't very ethical, but she dropped her shields enough to hear what they were thinking.

_:–thought the sounds were from the other fight–:_

_: –though they was gonna kill that girl–:_

_: –wearin' grays, attacked a Herald-trainee!–:_

Ari sighed. She'd thought there might be a mob. She never wanted to see an angry mob ever again, especially one that was after her. These people all seemed to be on her side.

She snorted in black amusement as she heard the jingle of hooves.

Nienori came rushing through, nostrils flaring, teeth showing.

_:Ya missed th' show, 'Nori,:_ said Ari as she leaned against the side of a building.

By the time she heard more jingling, Ari had managed to get herself sitting stiffly atop her Companion. The red-haired girl had been taken away, presumably to a Healer.

_She's alive then._

_:Unfortunately,:_ Nienori said, ears pulled back. _:I wish I'd been here in time to trample the bitch.:_

_:I thought Companions were s'posed to be kind an' such.:_

'Nori swiveled her head to look at Ari.

_:Not when the people we love are in danger.:_

Ari smiled, and then winced. She hadn't noticed, but thinking back on it, an elbow had caught her mouth at some point, and now the split lip was re-split open.

"Ari!"

Turning, she saw Danny, Sal and…

_Lael?_

She waved half-heartedly to them, and if she hadn't been so damn drained, she might've laughed. At what, she wasn't sure.

_:Let's get you to the Healers' Collegium, beloved.:_

_:T' check m' head?:_

_:Among other things.:_

Ari held onto Nienori's mane for lack of a bridle. Her bags sat untouched around the corner. Ari was about to slide off to get them when Nienori grabbed two them gently with her teeth, the dogs taking those remaining, one apiece. She promised the dogs gigantic steaks when they got back and after she was able to clean them up.

As soon as Ari was past the initial crowd, the boys, who'd been waiting behind those standing, rode up next to her.

"What happened?"

"Are you alright?"

"Who did this?"

Ari held a hand up halfway before it began to shake.

"Th' Kebby family is off their fuckin' rockers," was all she said as they made their way back home.

* * *

AN: And you thought this chapter was going to be fluffy! Sorry for that, but I wanted this done. I wanted Ari to be able to realize she _could_ save herself in a fight (with a little help from some critters), and kick some serious ass. No one's going to mess with her again. For a little while at least.

*evil grin*

Anyway, in case anyone was having trouble picturing the dogs, in my mind they were stocky pitbulls, one black with white down his nose and on his toes and tail, and the other red (orange-red) with white on his nose, belly, and front feet. These two had crinkly ears that neither stood up nor laid flat, and had one or two scars over their noses from being hit with sticks from the city children. I don't know if anyone is looking at this and thinking I'm crazy, but pitbulls are sweet dogs when they aren't made to be vicious. So…yeah! These two will be staying with Ari for some time to come. I won't mention it in another chapter (unless I forget and put it in there), but Ari asks permission to keep them. Under the circumstances, who wouldn't let her? So they'll have collars when Garry gets back from his vacation (as much as he loves dogs, he can make collars for them), and they normally sleep in her room, unless they decide to stay outside.

As to Lael's injuries, I don't know how I'm doing with that. There's constant pain, but I don't want to be putting that in every sentence of his POV. I've also had few burns in my life, all were very small, and only one somewhat serious. So I can't speak to that, but this is the point where I hope you guys will use your imaginations and just bear with me.

Oh, and I suppose I'll be putting these up for every chapter now. I'll try to not repeat any songs. And, like with comments on everything else, suggestions for the playlist for any chapter is welcome, or songs you just think are awesome and want to share.

**Playlist for Chapter 10:**

"Young Folks" ~Peter Bjorn and John (birthday scene)

"Awake and Alive" ~Skillet (big dramatic fight scene)


	11. Chapter 11: Snowdrift

So, this chapter is pretty much pure fluff, though it does further some thoughts for Lael in the _What is Ari to me?_ department .

**Chapter 11: Snowdrift**

_Ari held onto Nienori's mane for lack of a bridle. As soon as she was close enough, the boys rode up next to her._

"_What happened?"_

"_Are you alright?"_

"_Who did this?"_

_Ari held a hand up halfway before it began to shake._

"_Th' Kebby family is off their fuckin' rockers," was all she said as they made their way back home._

The days leading up to Midwinter were cheery, despite the events of weeks earlier. Another trial for yet another Kebby had been set for five days after the attack. Ceara, the name of the red-headed sister, had to be brought in sitting in a wheeled chair, and the boy who'd tried to run was still abed. Ari tried very hard not to take vicious pleasure in seeing the girl get what she deserved. Attempted murder was a much bigger offense than attempted rape. This girl was lucky, the Senechal's Herald had said, that she wasn't getting the gallows for trying to kill a Herald-in-training. She was being sent away, though, and as a precaution, the Justice had placed restraint on the Kebby family from having any contact with Ari, something the trainee herself couldn't grasp ("How's a piece of paper s'posed t' keep 'em away?"). Though there weren't as many of her friends rooting for her this time, Ari was unafraid to give her side of the story. She did her best not to glare at Ceara Kebby while telling the tale. Instead, as she did at that first trial, she found Lael in the crowd.

* * *

_I don't care how damned cold it is out here. Anything is better than being in that room when they show up again._

Lael's family had decided that they couldn't spend a single Midwinter without their second-oldest child, and had rented room at a very reputable inn in town. Not that Lael didn't love his family. He just couldn't stand the way they babied him, much more than Sal had done in the beginning.

So, having found thicker clothing, and having bundled himself up to the point where his arms stuck out a little, Lael made his way to the spot where he hoped Ari would be, avoiding Healers at all costs as he most always did. He'd done himself serious damage riding to get to Ari. He didn't care much. They told him to exercise so he didn't atrophy; he was just taking their advice.

As he came upon the trees, he heard a string of swearing. Smiling, he came up to see Ari, pencil in hand, working on figures and sums.

"Need any help?"

She looked up sharply. Seeing that it was only him, she settled back, staring contemptuously at the marked paper.

"Help'd be great, s' long as you know how t' long divide."

"I vaguely remember. But why are you doing schoolwork over the holidays?"

She gave him a long-suffering look.

"Ain't got nothin' else to do, and I can' divide t' save my hide."

He could understand that sentiment. Sitting down carefully next to her, she handed him the paper and pencil. The expression was simple enough.

"Well, what you want to do here…"

* * *

Sal's father was out hunting up presents, leaving Sal with nothing to do but visit Lael a few hours earlier than he normally did. Knocking, he let himself in before there was any reply.

"Oh," he said, seeing a dark-haired family in the room. "Ah, sorry. I'll just–"

"Please, do you know where Lael is?" the oldest woman asked.

Sal leaned a little to get a better look at the bed.

_Damn, he's gone again!_

And here he'd thought he'd interrupted a family moment. Thinking about the woman's question, the only place Sal could think of where Lael would go in this weather would be to see Ari. Sal didn't have the time to think again about how odd it was that they spent so much time together.

"No, but if you want, I have an idea where he might be."

* * *

Ari had completed the math with Lael's help. She was feeling very good about herself, ready for when classes started up after the break was over. Lael took a drink from his canteen, something not unusual after the time he'd been out without it.

Most times, either she was the one who spoke more, or they were equally silent. She didn't mind the quiet. After coming out here for so long with him, she felt better about going into any kind of wooded area, even planned her new year resolution to try and go back to the orchard (not alone, though).

She was just thinking that she liked it here better when a twig snapped. She automatically grabbed Lael's arm, and was ashamed a moment later.

_Am I so delicate that I need protection from ev'rythin'? I protected m'self when that little bitch was gonna kill me, an' now I'm grabbin' onto Lael?_

Ashamed as she was, she didn't let go. She had one of those feelings that told her he'd be upset if she let go, even if he didn't show (or say anything about) it.

"Lael?"

Ari recognized Sal as he came through, but not the people with him. All were a black-haired bunch, dressed very upper-class. Ari tried to make herself as small as possible. Her few experiences with the upper-class (barring some Heralds) had not been promising.

"There you are, son!"

_Ah,_ thought Ari. _His family. I oughtta make an excuse an' get outta the way._

Lael and Ari stood, Ari making it seem natural when she took her hand off his arm. The woman of the group had tears in her eyes. She opened her arms as soon as her son stood up. Lael looked at Ari before moving forward to greet his mother.

"Not too tight a hold," he told her. She was very careful, as were his sisters and father. Ari glanced at Sal, who stood off to the side like she did. He grinned at her, and she couldn't help but smile back a little. She smiled wider when she made as though she held a game piece, and began jumping over imaginary legions. Sal rolled his eyes and looked away, trying not to laugh.

"I suppose you've already met S–" Lael began coughing before he could finish his sentence. He grabbed for his canteen, but it wasn't on his belt. Ari turned around, scanning for it. It was partially hidden in the snow, but she saw it, snatched it up, and handed it to Lael who took it gratefully.

"Thank you," he gasped. "Like I was saying, you seem to have met Sal already. This," Lael motioned carefully, "is Ari. She's a Herald-trainee."

The family nodded their greetings. Ari felt awkward, as she did in most social situations. Thinking back on when she met Lael, Ari wiped her hand as circumspectly on her sleeve as she could and came forward to shake Lael's father's hand (since his father was closest to her).

She kept her hand extended, even when the man's eyes widened a little. Ari stood up a little straighter. This was nothing compared to what had happened to her of late. She could stick it out.

Finally, the man shook her hand. The mother was more energetic about it than her daughters, but Ari didn't care too much. Introductions out the way, Sal did his best to dispel the ensuing discomfited silence.

"May I suggest we congregate somewhere more comfortable than in the cold?"

Everyone in agreement, they began to move back towards the Healers' Collegium, where Lael had his own room for the time being.

Not wanting to intrude anymore than she already had, Ari tucked her pencil and papers into her pockets, veering off towards Heraldic.

A gloved hand found her arm.

_:Please…stay with me?:_

Ari only had Lael's eyes to read his expression. She'd never been great at interpreting language through eyes, but she thought his eyes were…not desperate, not quite, but something akin to it. Just like she hadn't let go of his arm for fear of hurting him, she wouldn't leave him for the same reason. And she didn't mind.

_:Alright,:_ she told him, _:but I make no promises t' keep up good conversation.:_

She imagined him smiling behind the mask; she was certain his eyes were doing the same.

* * *

"I think they love you," Lael told Ari as he waved his family down the corridor. He stopped as soon as he could, the burn over his arm acting up with the action. He'd change it himself to avoid letting the Healers know he'd been "straining himself." He'd just have to steal a bottle of the special burn salve they used.

"Huh?" she said. He smiled, glad she couldn't see it, or she might've thought him condescending.

"My father, mother and sisters. Especially my sisters. I have no doubt they'll be going back to the inn tonight, running around and pretending they have Companions themselves."

Ari blushed, ducking her head. As quiet as she'd tried to be, Lerette and Bibiana had begged the Herald-trainee to tell them everything about having a Companion, going to classes, talking to people in her head. They'd been mightily impressed. Lael thought his parents, too, had warmed a great deal to her, laughing when she said something in that dry-but-serious way that made others chuckle when she told a story.

"I ain't that interestin'," she informed him. "As common as a rat in th' grain."

"My backside!"

She grinned. Lael's eyes roved the hall outside his room. No one was there but his friend and himself, Sal having left some hours before to meet Herald Embry.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I just remembered that I haven' given you your Midwinter gift yet."

"You got me a gift?"

"Yep. Yours hid from me f'r a while, an' that's why it's a little late."

Lael laughed a little.

"The dogs hide it from you?"

Grinning, she said, "They're good hounds. They only hide bones. Think you c'n come with me to get your gift?"

Lael's heart gave a little thud, and he didn't know why. Maybe it was the thought of the aching cold slipping through his clothes and over his burns that hitched his breath a little. Because the only other reason…

…_Would mean that I have _feelings_ for a thirteen-year-old girl. _

A deep sensation of shame flittered through his stomach. As much as he cared about Ari, counted her as a good friend (even in so short a time), he couldn't, _couldn't_, feel that way about her. It wasn't right.

Instead of thinking on it, he did what he normally did when thinking of things which worried and upset him – he ignored it.

"Lead on," he told her.

Ten minutes and two enthusiastic canine greetings later, they were in Ari's room, Lael sitting at her writing desk, and Ari on her stomach and digging underneath her bed.

"I have a couple of 'em under here, seein' as most everyone's home f'r the holidays."

"Take your time," he told her, looking around her room. It was much the same as the room he'd had as a trainee, but there were touches of personality in the room. A banner hung over her bed, window, and above her bookcase, one that read "Happy Birth Day Ari!" On the bookcase were ornaments: a myriad of jewelry bits, a small ceramic wolf, a glass Companion (or maybe a horse, though Lael felt it was a Companion), and....

_The mask I gave her._

It stood prominently between the wolf and Companion, standing on its own holder, something she must have gotten herself. Before he could admonish himself for not including a stand, Ari popped up from under the bed, making one of the dogs _woof_ softly.

"Found it!" she proclaimed. Hair mussed on one side, she stood, holding out his present to him, a smile lighting her face.

Lael shook himself a little. Cautiously, he used his left hand to grab the box. Tall and broad and thin, he undid the red bow, slipping it into his pocket. He hoped she wouldn't notice and take it for what it was, which was to say bizarre.

Lifting the lid, inside was a sketchbook, accompanied by several pencils and charcoal pieces for drawing.

"I saw it and thought of you," she said somewhat nervously. "I didn' know if you like to draw, but somethin' about the thought felt right, so I got it."

Lael pulled the sketchbook from its box, lifting the cover and flipping through the blank, white pages.

"I draw," he said in a subdued manner. "Used to, anyway. It…it'll be good for me to start up again, I think. Thank you, Ari." He tried to put as much gratitude as he could into his voice. He hadn't drawn in so long, didn't think he could. Not because of his injuries, but because he was afraid that he could no longer draw anything that wasn't dark and clouded. But he would try. Maybe he could do something soon, and show it to Ari when they met up again. His chest felt like it was melting in that nice way again. He tried to stifle it as best he could.

Placing the book back in the box with the pencils, he topped it with the lid and stood, headed for the door. He turned around to tell her goodbye.

"Wait!" she said, and scrambled to her night table drawer. "I forgot I made something for you with the gift you got me."

Having spent hours grueling with Kaleb in the city (and eventually come back to a livid Healer Airmid), Lael had finally found something he thought worthy to act as her present. It was a box with many compartments, inside and out, full of all colors of beads and threads, and had some needles and clasps to make necklaces with.

Hiding whatever it was behind her back, she came up to him smiling. She held it out in front of her gently. Tucking his box under his right arm, he took the creation and held it up to his eyes.

Finely woven was a large bookmark, made with interchanging threads, and several beads at the stringed ends.

"Took some practice, but I finally fig'red out how to weave it together without usin' those crochet needles an' all."

Lael grinned, loving the bookmark even more than the sketchbook.

"Thank you, Ari. …I should get back now, though," he apologized. "You know how–"

"Airmid is, yeah." She grinned.

Lael opened the door carefully, trying to keep the box under his arm and the bookmark in his hand.

"I oughtta walk ya back," she told him.

He looked at her.

"Why?"

Was she trying to tell him that he was weak?

"'Cause if you fall through a hole covered in snow, who's gonna go f'r help?"

Lael laughed. She said it with such seriousness! And here he'd thought she was implying he couldn't handle himself. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" she asked with mock-skepticism.

He smiled, trying not to do more damage to his face than he had in the last few weeks with his grinning.

"Promise."

She beamed.

"All right, then. But if you get stuck in an abandoned well on your way there…"

"You'll be the first to hear me call in the cavalry."

Taking a few steps into the hall, Lael turned back to her and said, "Happy Midwinter, Ari."

"Happy Midwinter, Lael."

He walked softly, listening for the close of her door. Once it did, he did his best to contain an idiotic smile all the way back to his bed.

* * *

AN:

Lael has one older brother, 21, and two younger sisters, 12 and 10.

I don't have a name for the dogs yet. If anyone has any suggestions (that aren't human names – more like traits, say), I'd be glad to hear them.

If anyone is wondering if Ari seems too cheery for what happened to her recently, _I_ personally feel like she's proven to herself that she can save her own butt. So even though she's still afraid of boys in blue, she feels stronger (though she isn't arrogant or foolish about it). …Yeah. :)

**Playlist for Chapter 11:**

"All I Want For Christmas Is You [So So Def Remix]" Mariah Carey ft. Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow


	12. Chapter 12: And Something Bothersome

First off, my apologies for not getting this up sooner! Like I said on my author's page, I got to be a bum last semester when I wasn't doing schoolwork (and falling into blissful, non-school oblivion in the summer). And this semester is better and worse than the last – better in that I have less to do homework-wise, and worse because my Spanish class is driving me insane (it meets four days a week, is proceeding too quickly, and is very speaking-intensive – which is STILL very, very nerve-wracking for all of us in the class, and means lots of studying to try and keep up).

Anyway.

Notes: I can't remember what they call their months, so I'm just going with ours from here on out (you know, January, February, etc.) Also, sorry if this chapter seems a bit clipped/choppy; I'd debated about putting this chapter up alone, or with the one I'm doing next, but decided that the next is too serious, and I wanted to get the smaller stuff that's in here out of the way for when it comes back into the story later. So, my apologies if all this seems like it's just filler. I can't decide whether it really is or not, though, and I really hope it isn't too crummy. :S (If it is, though, don't keep quiet! If you have suggestions, questions, anything, drop me a line so I can make things better.)

To the gentlemen who read this story: Some…_ahem_…girl stuff goes on in this chapter. It isn't graphic, and I'm sure you've heard way worse from a) a sex ed class, b) your female friends, or (probably worst) c) your female relatives like your mom or sister(s). I'll put up a warning so you can skip all that, since it's at the end anyway, if you don't want to hear about it (and I guess the ladies can, too). There's nothing gory, though. Promise! :)

**Chapter 12: A Betrothal and Something Bothersome**

_Taking a few steps into the hall, Lael turned back to her and said, "Happy Midwinter, Ari."_

"_Happy Midwinter, Lael."_

_He walked softly, listening for the close of her door. Once it did, he did his best to contain an idiotic smile all the way back to his bed._

Eight months had passed since Midwinter, and now the close of summer was fast upon the Collegium. Whenever Ari caught herself thinking that her routine was _too_ routine, and that things were a little boring, all she had to do was remember just how interesting things could be and she was glad for the boredom and lacking schedule.

However, as her friends began drifting back from a holiday away from schooling, it became clear that drama need not only take place at the Collegium.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

"Ari, we need to talk to 'Thyna and Garry after class."

Ari was busy jotting down the notes for her new maths class, but heard what Aldora was telling her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked without looking at her friend.

"You could say that," the girl muttered darkly.

Ari glanced at Aldora, watching as her friend doodled on the corner of her notes angrily. Whatever had happened, it didn't sound like something that could be fixed with a good laugh.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

"What?" Ari asked for the third time. It wasn't because she hadn't heard; she just couldn't believe her ears.

Eithyna petted the book in her lap as though it were a dog, as Tanbal ran his hand through his hair.

"Betrothed, the both of us."

"And not to each other?" asked Jynn.

Ari was close enough to 'Thyna to catch her very quiet "I wish." It was no secret the two liked each other, and had for some time. But if what they were saying was true, they would never be able to see what might come of it.

Garry shook his head. "They said something of a spring wedding. I'm not even far enough along to be a journeyman, what!" Taking his lute, he gripped the neck and attempted to strangle the inanimate object before Aldora slapped him on the head and took the instrument away.

"This isn't as bad as you're making it out to be," Devissa muttered.

The group turned to look at her. Raising her head in some alarm she said, "The book, I was talking to the _book_. You act as though I don't rant at it the whole day long."

All but Devissa returned their attention to the Eithyna and Garry, Devissa not thinking much of the whole business, as most of her older sisters had had arranged marriages.

After several minutes of more dead-end questions, the group began to disperse the lunch table to head back to their individual classes. Before leaving them, Ari asked both what brought about their parents' announcements.

Looking at Garry, 'Thyna reluctantly told Ari, "I haven't the slightest. They didn't tell me who I'm to marry, and Garry's parents haven't told him either. I've been trying to figure a way out of it on my end. But seeing as it was a betrothal-upon-birth, I imagine neither of my parents will change their minds this late into it."

Eithyna walked off dejectedly as Garry turned to Ari sadly. "Don't tell anyone," he said softly, "but my family's been having financial troubles, what? That's why they insist on a quick marriage. 'It's a matter of dowry, and that family has plenty of it,' they keep telling me. We're doing with less and less all the time. They even…they even sold my favorite hounds to pay off debts." Garry heaved a great sigh that sounded too close to a sob for Ari's comfort. Patting his back softly, she understood how much that had hurt him; dogs were life to Garry, even more so than his music. She tried not to imagine how she'd feel if someone took Crick and Flame away from her, the two stalwart dogs that had been with her since the attack early last December. With a thought she knew where they were.

"D'you have a class next?"

"No," he sighed.

"You should go out to the courtyard," she told him knowingly.

Looking at her dejectedly, he asked, "What's out in the courtyard?"

She smiled.

"Oh, just my nosy hounds."

Garry grinned, doing a hop-skip forward. Smiling in return, Ari also warned him that they might need a bath. "I'll even pay. I have several–"

Garry thrust a hand out. "No need, what? It'll take my mind away, to a place where I can live as a bachelor in the countryside, dogs at my feet and my lute in my lap."

Ari grinned wryly as Garry almost hopped away whistling.

Realizing where her next class was, Ari began trotting towards the salle, hoping she wouldn't have to do extra laps for being late.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

Several days later, Ari, Tanbal and Devissa were walking together towards weapons practice, the older students informing Ari of their latest attempt to wrestle some information.

"I had no idea court ladies have such a fascination with country bumpkins," Devissa said as she ribbed Tanbal.

"The court gossip – the woman who supposedly knows everything having to do with anyone else's family – didn't tell us anything, except that she wouldn't mind seeing me more often," said Tanbal abashedly.

"Damn nobles," Devissa held to her daily mantra.

"Hmm," was all Ari managed to dredge up. For some inexplicable reason, that morning Ari had woken up in a gods-awful mood, and nothing, so far, had been able to rectify it. The stomachache certainly wasn't helping.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

That night, as was now customary, Ari, Danny, and Sal ate dinner in Herald Pellam's rooms, the older Herald having announced his retirement just after the beginning of the year from his northern circuit.

Having told the Herald about the newest situation involving her friends, Pellam asked, "What're their names, now?"

"Sophos and Tiegrin."

"Hmm," he said. "I'll see what I can do for you and your friends, Ari."

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

At weapons practice the next day, Ari was drilling with Hyndin, doing her best to do anything but defend herself with her wooden sword. Her temper grew with each hit against her weapon. In the background, Alberich made his rounds.

"Evendim, your feet in the wrong place are!"

Ari had been sweating, one of the many irritants of the day. For a moment, her mind wandered. The _thwap_ of Hyndin's stave on Ari's arm was the catalyst for her black mood to spill over.

"How hard's it to keep hittin' m' damn sword? Good thing we're practicin' with wood an' not metal!"

Everyone in the class, including the teacher, turned to watch in some small amount of horror. Ari was one of the most level-headed in the class, and, as Alberich well knew from continued extra lessons with her, she could get frustrated but work past it.

Ari had thrown her practice weapon by this point, her palms pressed to her pulsing head.

Hyndin, who was red with embarrassment, asked her, "Ari? Are you alright? I…I'm sorry for hitting you. My palms sweat and –"

Ari shook her head, the headache making her regret the motion. She looked at him, taking one hand off her skull.

"Hyndin, 'm _so_ sorry. I didn' mean any of it, 'm just havin' an ache in my head. 'S no s'cuse, though."

Hyndin nodded, standing awkwardly.

Alberich motioned to Ari.

"Practice too hard you have. Rest in the shade now."

Ari reluctantly nodded, looking apologetically to her practice partner. As she passed him, he put a hand on her shoulder in acceptance of her apology.

"Water, also," Alberich instructed Ari. She sat on the bench as Alberich sparred with Hyndin. Ari winced, and not just from the pain in her head.

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

(MENFOLK BE WARNED! Femaleness ahead!)

For the last several days, Ari's temper had waxed and waned, and she'd been unable to find the source of it. Also, to her embarrassment, she's cried the night before.

And she had no idea why.

She thought about trying to talk to Lael about it when she'd seen him, but it felt almost awkward to bring it up. She couldn't attribute her mood to anything that she knew of, so she suffered in relative silence, staving off Danny's attempts to ask her what the matter was, and, when having asked Nienori, had only gotten a response of "it's natural." For some strange reason though, none of her girl friends had asked her how she was, giving her an almost knowing look. She wasn't quite sure what that meant, but then maybe it was just that "natural" process that every female but Ari seemed to know about.

One year to the day that she was Chosen, Ari awoke to a severe stomach cramp that refused to let her be. Not sure if she was going to be sick or not, she tried to calm herself down as she changed into something other than her nightclothes.

But after tossing away her unders for fresh ones, she froze. She pulled the fabric back to her quickly, inspecting it. Her breath hitched.

_:NIENORI!:_

The Companion, still sleeping in her stall, jerked awake. Feeling her Chosen's panic, she dashed from the stable.

_:What is it?:_ Nienori thought back desperately.

_:I'm BLEEDING!:_

Dread filled the Companion instantly. How had she missed an attack? Who had done it?

_:Where are you injured?:_

She heard a whimper from Ari's mind.

_:I–I was changing my unders, and there's blood all over it!:_

At that moment, Nienori had just reached Herald's when she stopped dead. Just then, Nienori sincerely wished that she had a human hand so that she might hit herself in the forehead with it.

_:…Is _that_ all?:_ she asked.

_:WHAT D'YA MEAN "IS THAT ALL"? I'M BLEEDIN' OUT MY SACRED PLACE!:_

Nienori sighed sadly, knowing that Ari was frightened and frustrated and didn't understand what was going on at all. And it wasn't her fault, not at all – she hadn't been taught to expect this.

_:Remember how erratic your mood has been this last week?:_

Nienori sensed Ari calming, most likely because she could feel her Companion's ease.

_:…This has something to do with it?:_ the girl asked tentatively.

_:Everything. Has anyone ever told you about a woman's monthly cycle? "Monthlies"?:_

In her room, Ari frowned. She'd heard something of the like once before…

_:When I used to serve tables, I once heard two men talkin' about their wives, and one said that, as regular as the moon, his went insane from her cycle every month. I thought he meant she had moon madness. …I'm not mad, am I, 'Nori?:_

_:Not an ounce!: _she told Ari. _:I'm not going to be the best to explain it, Chosen, but I think that if you go to Eithyna, she'll be able to help you better than I can. Just find a new pair of bottoms, but have a rag between it and yourself. She can help you from there.:_

_:What do I tell her?:_ Ari asked as she attempted to calm herself better and dress.

_:Tell her that you've just had your monthlies for the first time, and no one ever explained it to you.:_

_:I wish you could tell me, 'Nori.:_

_:I know, dearest. As much as it bothers me, I'm not going to be able to do it as well as one of your friends could. You're going to need someone who can help you get what you require, as well as explaining the… mechanics of it. And I'm not quite able to do all that.:_

o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o\o/o

An hour later, Ari sat at the table amongst her friends, her stomach still hurting and feeling odd, and her head full of new information from Eithyna (who'd naturally laughed at hearing that Ari had honestly thought she was dying). She grimaced for the hundredth time at thinking that this kind of thing would happen regularly, once a month, for three to five days, until she was too old for it to be happening anymore at around fifty.

"Hey, coz," Danny said as he patted her head and sat down next to her, "feelin' any better?"

She gave him a look that he couldn't comprehend.

"No. But at least I know what's wrong now."

"What is it?" he asked, shoving more bacon than was necessary onto his plate.

"I hope you'll never know, Danny. I really, really do."


	13. Chapter 13: Hearts Can't Break

So.

School sucks, and so does writer's block.

Luckily, this week is my spring break, and – with some inspiration – I now have lengthy summaries for the next, oh, ten chapters. :)

Fair warning, though: the next few chapters are going to be emotionally heavy, but answers will be revealed and all that. Subtle (or maybe just subtle to me) hints in previous chapters will make you smack yourself in the face with the revelations produced!

But not to toot my own horn, or anything.

:D

Alright, then. On with it!

**Chapter 13: Hearts Can't Break If They Weren't Whole in the First Place

* * *

**

"_Hey, coz," Danny said as he patted her head and sat down next to her, "feeling any better?"_

_She gave him a look that he couldn't comprehend._

"_No. But at least I know what's wrong now."_

"_What is it?" he asked, shoving more bacon than was necessary onto his plate._

"_I hope you'll never know, Danny. I really, really do."_

_

* * *

_

The sun was minutes away from setting, which would signal the end of one guard shift and the beginning of another. The two on duty were attentive but antsy to get where they were going, passing their last remaining moments in idle chatter. But the idle chatter died, and swords were unsheathed, as a stumbling figure came in sight.

"– come all this way – traveled in the wrong direction," the woman began to babble, clutching at her head. The guards looked at each other questioningly before the shorter man made to touch the woman to help her to rights.

"I need – speak – her father – he's here, Herald – family again," she continued to ramble. Two fresh guards came up to the gates.

"What's on with the woman?" one of them asked.

"No idea," said the one who had her gently by the arm. "I think she wants to see one of the Heralds, though? She's not making much sense."

"Yes!" she wailed, and all four men winced. "Herald, my hero! Oh, he'll be so happy – but she's still where I left her – should go check…"

"Perhaps we ought to take her to see a Healer," suggested one of the fresher guards. In a lower tone he added unnecessarily, "she seems out of sorts in a bad way."

All in agreement, the two whose shift had just ended took up the woman to Healer's, where they described the situation to the best of their knowledge. After dismissal, Healer Airmid put the woman in a bed and began to ask her questions as several other healers began their assessment.

"What's your name?"

"Name, name – I have one! It's Vercy, I'm Vercy."

Airmid made soothing motions when Vercy squeaked at one of the other Healers.

"What's your surname, Vercy?" Airmid continued to question.

The woman's eyes began roving back and forth, looking between nothing and nothing.

"Mechmala – where's my girl? I left her – said I'd be back! Where's – Herald?"

"Which Herald, Vercy?" Airmid asked kindly. From the quiet looks of the others, it was fair to guess that this wasn't a temporary condition the woman was in.

Without warning, the woman began to wail, keen and piercing.

"Miri, get her quiet before she wakes the whole building!"

Miranjela took a sleeping draught from her kit, and had the others hold Vercy while she poured the liquid into the open mouth; Vercy choked, swallowing it.

Quickly, the disheveled woman quieted. Airmid rubbed her forehead wearily as Vercy went limp.

Just before she fell into sleep, she mumbled, "Her'ld..."

* * *

"Alright! It's too damned hot to have you all in class, so class dismissed! Don't forget to read chapter twelve for tomorrow."

Not believing their luck, Ari, Devissa, and Tanbal made a hasty escape from the overheated history room, tumbling out into the slightly cooler hall with the rest of their classmates.

"I hate to think how bad Weapons will be," Tanbal said as he attempted to gather his hair into a horse-tail. Devissa tried rolling her short sleeves up to her shoulders several times, intermittently fanning herself with a book too thick to be used in such a way.

"At least you have Weapons nearer to sundown – Ari and I have it close enough to noon that I might actually skip. I have this feeling that if I go outside before the sun's set, I'll dead faint," Devissa said huffily. Ari wasn't thrilled about having Weapons practice in the heat of the afternoon either. She'd had her shoes and socks off for hours without hearing complaint from the teachers, and didn't feel that the heat was too unbearable _within_ the building – she'd been in hotter places before the Collegium. At least the air lazily wafting through some of the doors and windows that had been opened wasn't the stifled and odorous air of the city.

With a thought, Ari checked on Nienori, who was lazily swishing her tail back and forth. The stable, though not completely ideal, was a good bit cooler than the halls Ari and the other two were currently roaming.

"Just checked in on 'Nori, and it's cooler in Companions' Stables," she told them quietly, afraid that if she raised her voice, she would become even more heated.

"Sounds great," said Tanbal as he checked his head, half his hair out of the horse-tail he'd put it in. "Damn."

"We'll have to go outside, won't we?" Devissa said in a long-suffering manner.

"Mmhmm," Ari sounded instead of nodding, not wanting to move any more than necessary. Devissa whimpered.

"D'ya think if we sprint, we won't die when we reach it?" Ari asked her friends. She hadn't meant to slip into her old accent, but considering it made any sentence shorter, and therefore kept her cooler, Ari was alright with sounding fresh from the city.

Devissa began fanning the book harder in a panicked sort of response, while Tanbal screwed up his face.

"Let's do it," they said in unison. Both looked at each other for a moment, and Ari looked straight ahead, worried she might ruin "a moment" in the making.

The three finally came to a set of doors that would lead them outside and into the baking sun. Hefting their – surprisingly light – knapsacks full of school things, the three did last moment preparations; Tanbal once again attempted to horse-tail his hair, Devissa put her book away and checked the security of her bun, and Ari made sure that her hair (now a good length) was tucked under the rest of her horse-tail.

Almost as one, they took deep breaths and opened the doors.

Devissa could have cried.

"I don't think I'll be able to sprint," she choked.

Trying to breathe normally through the crispy air, Ari said, "Tanbal, run 'head and cool down. Dev an' I'll catch up."

"You sure?" he asked them. Like a drooping flower, Devissa bobbed her head.

"See you two there, then," he said, hefting his knapsack one last time before dashing out the doors.

Ari closed them after he'd gone.

"We can do this, Dev. It used ta be worse at the tavern, all the buildin's blockin' any air from blowin' at all."

Devissa looked skeptical, but seemed grateful for the temporary respite. Pausing a moment, Ari debated about how best to inspire her.

"Ought I t' talk 'bout how lazy nobles are, an' how they'd prob'ly use horses b'tween buildin's?"

Devissa cast a sour look upon the younger girl.

"I guess I can suck it up, if it means I'm better than them," she sniffed. Ari grinned, and it felt like too much work to do it. The girls steeled themselves for a second round of heat.

Once again opening the doors, Ari told Devissa, "On three. One…two…_three_!"

Both sprinted hard, Ari grabbing Devissa's hand when it seemed she might fall behind. Almost forgetting, Ari half-turned to Fetch the doors back to being closed, which took more energy than she'd thought.

Several minutes later, both girls were drenched with their own sweat, but at least they'd made it to the stables. Flinging the doors open, they scrambled inside, apologizing to all within for opening the door. They dropped where they sat, breathing heavily as they tossed knapsacks aside.

From further down, they could see Tanbal sitting against the front partition of Nienori's stall. Seeing them, he lifted his head from the wood and said, "Ari, you're so lucky to be wearing Grays. At least it's a lighter color than green." And he promptly let his head fall back into place.

"A…greed," huffed Devissa. Coming out from her stall, Nienori walked over to the girls, and surprised both with a spritzing of water from her mouth, covering their heads with water-diluted Companion spittle.

After a moment, Devissa stated, "I can't even be angry. It feels too nice."

Ari began to giggle, and tried to stop it. Giggling was for colder seasons than this.

_:Another round, perhaps?:_ Nienori asked Ari.

The Herald-trainee looked to the Blue.

"Another fountain, Dev?" Devissa debated for a moment.

"Yes, please. I'll bathe later and be grateful now." Nienori whickered good-naturedly, and went back to her stall to repeat the process. The other Companions were too busy trying to stay as cool as possible to care about anyone's antics.

"Wait," murmured Tanbal, as he crawled over to the other two, sitting on Ari's other side. The Companion waited until he was settled, and then sprayed all three, who then giggled (or in Tanbal's case, gave a manlier chuckle).

_:If you want another spray, just say so, Beloved. Otherwise, I'll be in my stall and as far away from any entrances as possible.:_

_:Mmhmm,:_ was Ari's only reply.

After twenty minutes of cooling down, Devissa said, "I'm willing to skip my next class. Anyone with me?"

"I have Courtly Graces," Ari stated, "but I already know which spoon is which. And I druther get in trouble later than have t' go back out _there_." Ari quickly Mindspoke with Danny to tell him that she wouldn't be seeing him in their next class, and not to worry.

"Skipping Maths is worth it," Tanbal concurred.

Settling down for a longer stay, the three drifted between discomfort and relaxation. When some time had passed, Tanbal, keeping his head straight and his eyes closed, asked Ari, "So, how's Herald Pellam?"

Ari smiled, keeping her head just as still as Tanbal's, but with her eyes open.

"Retirement suits him, 'parently. Says his favorite times're when all of us – me, Danny, and Sal – are with him and 'gettin' up to things.' Mostly we play _Ship 'n Shore_, or try t' help with the cookin'. I think it feels like havin' a da," she added the last thoughtfully.

Tanbal smiled.

"Did you ever know your father?" Devissa asked in her normal straightforward fashion.

"That's rude," Tanbal told her. Devissa reddened a little, but otherwise only mumbled an apology.

"It's fine, you two." Ari tapped her fingers against the dagger on her left side, thinking. "I didn' know him, but my ma used ta talk about him all th' time. 'He'll come back and we can be a family,' she used ta say. She had a pretty way of speakin', but I dunno if she was a proper lady down on her luck, or what. Never told me, an' I was too young t' ask anyways. All I ever had of him was this dagger here–" and she pulled out the blade to show them. "Ma said he'd made it himself, but that's prob'ly hogwash. Good weapon, though; it's helped me out of a fair share of scrapes." Her mouth twisted thinking about those "scrapes."

"May I see it?" Tanbal asked. Ari assented, holding the blade out to her left, hilt first.

"This is really intricate work," he said after his inspection. "And is this a Companion?" he asked, holding up the side of the hilt he was talking about.

"Aye. Though sometimes I used ta switch b'tween thinkin' it was a horse, dependin' on my mood." Tanbal nodded.

"Can I see it as well?" Devissa inquired. Ari passed the blade from Tanbal to Devissa carefully, as she regularly sharpened the knife.

Delicately, Devissa examined the dagger – no swirled design went un-looked at, no angle un-prodded. Devissa's brows furrowed.

"I could swear this design looks familiar, like I've seen a match of it before."

Nienori peeked out of her stall in interest.

Thinking on Devissa's words, Ari felt an answering familiar thought along those lines. Aloud she said, "I've thought that same thing b'fore, but I can't remember when or where."

Devissa nodded. "It looks as though it was handcrafted without any sort of set mold, like it was free-formed," she told Ari, passing her weapon back to her. "Did your mother ever tell you who he was or what he did for a living? If he wasn't a good-for-nothing noble, I mean."

Ari smiled at Devissa, but the smile faded as she began to talk, sheathing the dagger.

"All she ever said was that he'd an important job, an' that he was a good man. Used ta call him a hero, or some such. Last thing I 'member about that woman, she left me some bags at m' uncle's doorstep, mutterin' about how she'd find my da and we'd all be together. Doubt he even knew 'bout me, though," she added matter-of-factly. Most of what she had said she merely regarded as fact; there wasn't much emotion tied into it, and Ari liked to keep it that way. From across the stable, Nienori caught Ari's eye. Ari lifted her eyebrows in a _that's life_ motion.

The other two, at a loss for words, could only voice _I'm sorry_'s. Ari shrugged.

"Just how it is. Nothin' to dwell on, anyhow. Now that I'm here, all's right." She put a hand on each of their shoulders lightly, still mindful of the heat. "Got all th' friends and family I could want an' more."

Outside, the hourly bell began to toll. As a unit, the three groaned.

"How much do you want to bet that Alberich isn't even sweating?" Devissa asked the others.

"I learned my lesson 'bout betting from Danny years ago. I don't bet. But it's fair likely that he's fresh as a daisy," Ari said distastefully. Ari stood up, extremely reluctant to go back outside. Tanbal and Devissa followed suit.

"Have fun in your shaded classroom, Tanbal," Devissa told him, envy clear in her voice.

"Don't drop dead on us, you two," he answered.

Picking up their knapsacks, they prepared again to open doors that led to horrible heat.

"Should we sprint again?" Devissa asked her classmate.

"Not to Weapons," Ari replied. "We'll get there and then have t' do more runnin', plus sparrin' and tacklin'. Knowin' Master Alberich, he'll talk 'bout how this's good trainin' for th' future."

Devissa sighed in defeat while Ari strove to fashion a hat out of her knapsack, which was, though light by normal standards, far too heavy to act as such a thing. Giving up, Ari noticed for the first time just how sweaty she'd become. And for the first time since coming to the Collegium, she prayed that the hot water pumps in the baths gave out when it came time for her to bathe.

* * *

"I received your letter, Healer Airmid. You have a patient who wishes to see me?"

Airmid pursed her lips. "Yes, Herald Pellam. She's been asking for you. But I have to warn you, she's not very competent, and I'm afraid that it's a permanent mental state."

The Healer led Pellam into a room only large enough to fit one patient. Seeing his questioning look, Airmid said, "She disturbs the other patients, and we felt it necessary to move her."

The woman in question looked the worse for wear, even after being cleaned and dressed by the Healing staff. She was fitfully trying to sleep, kicking at her sheets and blanket despite how much cooler it was in Healer's than the other two collegia. Her straw-colored hair looked to be the same consistency as its color, and her eyes were framed by large dark circles above her cheeks. In her day, Pellam thought she would have been a fine woman to look at. But now…

He stepped closer, trying to recall why this woman looked so familiar.

"Has she given you her name?" Pellam asked quietly.

"Says it's Vercy Mechmala." Pellam's eyebrows rose. "You know her then, I take it?" Airmid inquired.

Pellam nodded. "I haven't heard that name in almost…fifteen years, I think. Do you know _why_ she's asked for me? We never kept in contact after I left for a border tour."

Airmid sighed. "She won't say, and no one's been able to make sense out of anything she says at any rate."

The talking, it seemed, was too loud for Vercy, who woke clicking her tongue, looking around the room for the source of the noise. Pellam felt a rush of pity for the woman he'd once known.

Almost instantly, Vercy recognized Pellam, and began to fidget with her hair in a disjointed manner. Pellam smiled weakly, approaching the bed. When he'd gotten close enough, Vercy reached out, grabbing his hand to pull him forward. He let her, though his training said it wasn't the wisest thing to do.

"Looked so long – here now – family!" Vercy giggled ecstatically. Pellam patted her hands with the hand she wasn't clawing. "She'll be so happy – have to check – left her there–"

"Left who, Vercy?"Pellam asked gingerly. Vercy's eyes widened.

"Your _daughter_! Never told you – left before – looked, looked, nowhere – north – kept her there – should check."

Ice poured through Pellam's veins. Airmid came closer, coaxing Vercy for more answers.

"Are you sure your girl is Pellam's?" Airmid asked. This was the wrong thing to say, for Vercy shrieked, "_Yes_! Only man I _knew_! Never disloyal – first time – beautiful girl!"

Pellam fought the urge to yank his hand away from the crazed woman. A _daughter_. He had another child? So many thoughts passed through his mind, wondering where she was and what had happened to her, that he couldn't organize any of it. He had no doubt Vercy was being honest. She'd apologized profusely their first time together, as it was her first time at all. And, he recalled, she'd been awfully attached to him, so much so that it had made him nervous. It had only been a year since his wife's death, and she was only supposed to be a fling, something to go back to every once in a while, not a permanent fixture.

The woman began to pant, clearly exhausted from her tirade.

"What's her name, Vercy?" Airmid thought to ask.

"Beautiful girl – left her – had to leave her – too young…" And without much ado, Vercy lulled herself back into a fitful sleep, still clasping Pellam's hand. He did his best to remove his limb without disturbing her, but she wasn't conscious enough to notice.

Pellam took a deep breath.

"Just how ill is she?"

Airmid crossed her arms. "She's suffering from a long untreated ailment, something she probably caught when she was younger but never took anything for. Now, it's cropped up stronger, and made her mind unstable. In short, Herald, she won't last through the month."

Pellam closed his eyes. Would he be able to work through Vercy's mad ramblings to get enough information to find a girl, whom Vercy ardently claimed was his, before the month – and Vercy's time – was up?

"If you'll excuse me, Healer, I need a stiff drink."

Leaving the building, Pellam let the full heat of the late afternoon sun sit on him as he stopped. He didn't know who this girl was, where she was, or if she was even still alive. All he could understand from Vercy, he thought, was that she had left her daughter to try and find him. Shame ran through him, just as slow and uncomfortable as the sweat that ran down his neck. If he had known Vercy was with child, he wouldn't have left. Yes, she had been clingy, but perhaps that was why. Leaving a brief goodbye letter to a lover was cruel enough, but one with child?

And what about his son, Sal? Pellam began to move again, the heat too much to take even in his mood. Sal would be horrified, devastated. He'd been unfaithful to the memory of Sal's mother, and not long after her passing. Pellam had tried to justify it to himself that he was lonely and needed the company, but that seemed hollow even to him.

Running hands through his damp hair, he Mindcalled to Oona, his Companion, who had heard nothing of what happened in her struggle to avoid the heat.

Summarizing all that had happened, Oona sat quietly for a moment before choosing the words to best represent her thoughts.

_:Well, damn.:_

Pellam sighed.

_:Exactly.:

* * *

_

Luckily, that night there were only colder foods being served in the dining hall. Ari had already had her cold bath and was feeling better for it, glad that Alberich hadn't been as unmerciful as she'd feared (nor was he as "daisy fresh" as she'd thought he'd be).

She listened to the chatter around her as she tried to keep from falling asleep on Danny's shoulder.

"I cracked an egg just to see if it'd cook," Aldora told an audience of seven.

"Did it?" Jynn asked, intrigued.

"_Yes_. Took maybe less than a few minutes to do it, too."

"Did you eat it?" Mairwey asked.

Aldora wrinkled her nose. "It was on the _ground_. No, I didn't eat it."

"Shame," he muttered, turning away.

Ari grinned sleepily. Yet looking at the way Eithyna and Garreth picked at their food, Ari's good cheer disappeared. She needed to speak to Pellam again soon, to see what he'd discovered. She resolved to do it tomorrow night, and stop by after her visit with Lael. Hopefully by then, the heat wave would break so that she wouldn't be too tired to do any of it.

* * *

Pellam paused for a moment. "Are you ashamed of me?"

Sal sighed, rubbing his hands over his breeches. For the time Sal was silent, Pellam was certain that his son would storm out rather than deal with this emotional upheaval.

"No," Sal finally said. Pellam sighed in relief. "I'm upset," Sal continued, "but it's…understandable. Mother had just died, you did what you could to cope. And before you ask, yes, I really believe that. I just wish I knew who this girl, this…sister...was. How do we even go about finding her with this woman in the condition she's in?"

"The MindHealers are working with her the best that they can. Hopefully we'll be able to figure something out." Pellam sighed once more, and leaned back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

"I guess it's a good thing you've gone into retirement, old man," Sal joked half-heartedly. Pellam chuckled just as dryly.

"Can't use my duty to escape raising one this time."

Sal grinned, though turmoil still raged in his mind. He didn't even want to try and think how this could change both of their lives in the most horrible of ways. What if the girl was a brat, or an addict, or, the worst, a victim? How could they repair any of that? How much of a toll would this take on his father's health? His father was a fit man, though a bit bulky, but what if this girl drove him to an early grave?

What if, what if, what if?

* * *

Though infinitely cooler than the day before, it was still much too hot to venture outside. Lael was as upbeat as he had ever been, having received news from the Healers that same day that he could get his own room in Heraldic due to his excellent progress (though that would be in another month or two). They told him that he was almost to the point where moving around wouldn't reopen any of his wounds. He would have to exercise his legs and arms every day to keep from atrophying, but he would otherwise be healthy enough not to elicit alarm from the Healers every time he went out.

Cool air wafted in from the hallway, the door open like most of the doors in the building to circulate cooler air. As Lael was tidying up for Ari's visit, a sound drew his attention to the open doorway. A woman came wandering in, looking around, wringing her hands, and muttering to herself. Lael had seen her kind before – manic, looking for all the world as if they could see things others couldn't, and not in a Gifted sort of way.

Clearing his throat, Lael asked the woman, "Do you need help back to your rooms?"

The woman acted as though she hadn't heard him, and began wringing her light-colored hair instead of her hands.

Lael sighed, but his throat caught, and he began to cough, looking around for his water. Just as he'd found a glass and had a drink, he heard more footsteps outside the door. Ari came in, fanning herself with her hand and frowning in confusion at the back of the other person standing in the room. Lael looked to Ari pleadingly (made difficult due to the use of his mask) to help get the woman out.

Now paying attention to Lael, the woman turned to see just what he was so interested in. Upon seeing Ari, however, the woman howled happily as Ari stood rooted to the spot where she stood. Shuffling over, the woman began to croon at Ari, touching her horse-tailed hair.

"Look so like my little girl – my Ariasha – sweet girl!"

Ari's chin began to quiver, and she no longer stood frozen, and instead began trying to pry the woman's hands from her hair.

Lael, too shocked to fully understand the situation, walked towards the older woman, endeavoring to pull the loon off of Ari.

"_NO_!" the woman screamed. By now, Ari was all but sobbing, trying her hardest to be gentle and yet pull away from the woman at the same time.

"Left her before – back now – _found_ him – here all along – not where I left her – family, family!"

Having heard the shouting, several Healers had come in to disentangle to two females.

"We're sorry," the younger Healer said, noticing Ari's distress, "We gave her a sleeping draught not long ago, we thought she was asleep already."

As they dragged the woman down the hall, she shouted, "Little girl – mine!"

Having watched the Healers take the woman away, Lael now looked around to see where Ari had gone. He spotted her at the end of his bed, now crying in earnest, sobs shaking her thin frame as she curled in on herself.

Lael quietly shut the door, no longer caring about the heat. He wasn't sure what to do; he'd never been one to really comfort people, women especially (his sisters could attest to that). So he placed his hand on her shoulder, and was shocked when she latched onto him, though not tightly enough to affect his scarring burns.

Unable to find anything soothing to say, Lael sat down next to Ari and stroked her hair until her sobs died off.

He wasn't sure how they both sat there after that, though the sun eventually began to set. Ari hadn't said a word about what had happened, just leaned against Lael. He tried to keep his heartbeat normal – they didn't normally touch each other much, and Lael couldn't help but marvel at it. He reprimanded himself, though, feeling selfish for thinking about his feelings when she needed him to comfort her with…whatever it was that was going on.

Ari rested her head lightly on his shoulder, and Lael fought the urge to shiver. In the quietest voice he had ever heard her use, Ari said, "That was my ma."

And it suddenly made sense to Lael, the episode from before. Recalling everything, he remembered how the woman had called Ari by name and claimed her as her own.

He still didn't know what to say to comfort her, and so said the only thing that people only ever can say:

"I'm sorry."

* * *

Danny sat waiting for Ari at their table in the dining hall, wondering if she was somehow too overheated to eat. He thought several times about Mindcalling to her, but held back, knowing how much she liked visiting Lael when she got the chance.

Tapping his fork alongside his tray, he began to really think about Ari's and Lael's relationship. Danny had seen nothing wrong with it, though Sal had questioned it upon occasion, remarking how odd it was that they spent so much time together. But Danny knew his coz, and though she didn't know it, Danny knew she liked Lael a good deal. It made Danny squirm to think of his heart-sib having romantic feelings for anyone, but he thought he could see them manifesting for Lael. He didn't know if this was a promising thing, or something that would end up tragically. He'd seen plenty of his floor mates sneak girls in and out of their rooms, heard disturbing things when he was trying to sleep. He wasn't a fool, and knew that Heralds were as like to be promiscuous as anyone. He just hoped Ari came out of it better than some females.

_:She's not coming, Sweet,: _Epona finally told her Chosen. Danny frowned.

_:Why not?:_

_:I suggest you go to the kitchens later to get food. Ari's in Lael's room, and he's comforting her as best he can.:_

_:What? Why's he need t' comf'rt her?:_ A thousand scenarios played out in Danny's mind, each as absurd and unlikely as the last.

Danny could sense Epona rolling her eyes from the stables. Becoming serious, however, Epona said, _:…she's just seen her mother.:_

Danny dropped his fork and stood abruptly.

"Danny, something wrong?" Mairwey asked, he and the others looking at Danny with concern.

"Gonna g' find Ari," he said quickly, and strode out of the room.

Danny was panting by the time he reached Lael's room, the heat having not entirely dissipated with the setting of the sun.

He opened the door without knocking to find Lael sitting awkwardly with Ari against his side.

_Bless 'is 'eart_, Danny thought. _He dunno what' t' do_.

On seeing Danny, Lael's posture relaxed. Going to kneel in front of her, Danny took the hand Ari had pulled from Lael's middle.

_:Lemme see?:_ he asked her. They'd done this sort of thing before, sharing memories of their days when they were apart. Now it worked to both advantages: Ari would not have to put into words what she'd experienced, and Danny wouldn't struggle with questions to ask.

Nodding, Ari opened her mind to Danny, cringingly replaying what had happened. Danny did his best to keep his expression blank, but inside he was pissed. How _dare_ that selfish bitch come back to scare the daughter she'd abandoned?

Looking into Danny's eyes, Ari thought at him, _:Agreed.:_

"C'mon, lass. Let's get ye t' yer room. I c'n get ye a nip a somethin' if'n y're hungry, sneak it thr'ugh the window, like." He smiled at her as best as he could under the circumstances.

Sighing, she said, "Alrigh', then." Ari looked up at Lael, and Danny thought she was thanking him.

Quietly, Danny did the same and said, _:Thank ye, Lael,:_ nodding to him.

Lael nodded back.

* * *

Preoccupied with his thoughts, Sal almost didn't see Danny and Ari walking towards him from Healer's. Pulling out the note from his father, he intended to give Ari the note now as opposed to tomorrow.

"Heyla," he announced, surprising them. He tried not to look like he had heavy thoughts on his mind, but it seemed heavy thoughts were all around tonight. Danny looked upset, though not as upset as Ari, who had drying tear tracks down her face.

"What's happened?" he asked quietly, holding out the letter to Ari. She took it slowly, and he felt compelled to explain, "From my father." Ari nodded, and began to fiddle with the letter without opening it.

In answer to Sal's question, Danny Mindspoke to him, _:Her ma came back af'er all these years, scared 'er t' death. Th' old bat's in Healer's, no idea why. Found Ari when she went t' look f'r Lael.:_

Not waiting for a response, Danny nodded to Sal, steering Ari towards Heraldic.

Sal let them go on their way, unable to form words to respond had Danny waited. For several moments, he stood in place. And then he sprinted towards his father's rooms.

* * *

AN:

Tada! The next installment! I hope that answers _some_ questions, though I think most of you are smart enough to have noticed my dropped hints in previous chapters. Remember how in this chapter Ari couldn't remember when or where she'd seen a dagger that looked like hers?

_Sal fiddled with his dagger. Ari swore it looked familiar, but now was no time to be thinking on it._

^From chapter six :)

Playlist for chapter 13:

"Smooth" – Santana

"Because of You" – Kelly Clarkson

I had to work a little bit at thinking of a hot summer day. It's still a bit chilly here in St. Louis. :/ So the heat thing might have just been wishful thinking on my part. And I rather think the Kelly Clarkson song is obvious, as it matches up well to Ari's feelings on the matter.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this one! Since I have several more days to work on this, I can (cross your fingers) crank out another two or three before I have to go back to school and boringness.

'Til next time,

WolfMusic


	14. Chapter 14: My Blood

Aaagh! Another chapter? And it's only been a few _days_? Who am I and what have I done with WolfMusic?

Anyway, I'm really glad that everyone seems to be enjoying the last chapter, and gladder still that a few already saw all of this coming! I have to say, though, I'm not quite done with the revelations. Sal and Pellam might now know – or in their cases, _think_ they know – what's going on, but Ari has _no_ idea. Until now, that is. *insert evil grin…here* And I can't just let the two of them bring her in and tell her, now can I? That would be too simple a resolution. I like for my characters to at least try to tiptoe around things like this. I'm like a Companion that way – I want them to figure it out for themselves without outside help. ;)

Twigon Halolover: It wasn't revealing for Pellam or Sal, but I said nothing about it being revealing for Ari, as you'll see in this chapter :)

Angelnot: Thanks for the compliment! And Ari's and Sal's relationship _did_ develop from Ari's comfort with him. Originally, Sal was just an older friend of Ari's. I didn't want him as a romantic interest, but I wanted him central in her life, and I wasn't sure quite how to do that. Then one day (I even remember where I was) I sat down and announced to Adica Finch that I'd had a revelation and now knew how to tie them together. Brother and sister just worked for them. It took a while to get to this point, but it's been well worth it!

To everyone: Anything I don't specifically mention in the story or my author's notes (the why's, where's, how's of things), please feel free to ask questions – I can send you a message back, and if it looks like it might be something others are curious about, I'll post the info before or after the following chapter.

One last note – in this chapter, like the last, Ari's accent is making a comeback for the time being. I explained why for the last chapter, and I may as well for this one, but outright. Ari is _extremely_ stressed out. And I once said that it'd come back in moments of stress.

At least I'm consistent with this sort of thing :)

Now – time for Ari to figure things out!

**Chapter 14: My Blood**

* * *

_In answer to Sal's question, Danny Mindspoke to him, _:Her ma came back af'er all these years, scared 'er t' death. Th' old bat's in Healer's, no idea why. Found Ari when she went t' look f'r Lael.:

_Not waiting for a response, Danny nodded to Sal, steering Ari towards Heraldic._

_Sal let them go on their way, unable to form words to respond had Danny waited. For several moments, he stood in place. And then he sprinted towards his father's rooms._

* * *

Ari had barely made it through her classes that day, and had been asked by more than one person if she was alright. She'd said she was under the weather. She didn't like lying, but it would take too much energy to explain the whole damned situation, and Ari didn't want to have to deal with it at all, or involve her friends. Not only that, she would feel embarrassed if she had to talk about her mother, and the condition that she was in.

She was immensely glad that she had several of her classes with Danny, who practically growled at anyone too persistent in asking questions.

Now that she was back in her own room, she lay sprawled on the bed, the window open to admit the snap from hot weather of previous days. But as she lie there, she felt itchy – not on the outside where she could scratch, but in the inside where she couldn't. She twitched in discomfort, and immediately stood up and began pacing around the room. Crick and Flame watched curiously from their cooled spots on the wood floor. After several minutes, she decided that she couldn't stand it anymore and left, leaving the door open in case the dogs decided to follow her.

Once outside, the feeling began to really abate, and Ari decided to speed up the process and raced herself to one of the larger trees past Companion's Field. As she sprinted, she felt the last little bit of the edge give way to relief, and plopped down, resting against the tree as she reached the predetermined spot.

Huffing only slightly, she grinned for the first time in days; she'd definitely gotten faster. Sitting back, she pushed away her tail-chasing thoughts as best she could and watched the clouds swivel, still hours away from dusk.

But the clouds weren't entertaining enough. She began playing with her horse-tail, still wet from her earlier bath, and remembered the way her mother used to take care of it. She would braid it, twist it, put it up, anything. And though she'd still been young when her mother had done this, she could recall the little trinket box of bows and ribbons her mother had used. There was nothing too expensive-looking, but all were nice and colorful and clean. Twisting the ends of her hair, Ari remembered her favorite ribbon, the dark blue one that her ma had always said looked perfectly princess-like in Ari's hair. And even with a mother as scatter-brained and loony as hers (made more so, it seemed, by the passage of time), those few times she would put up Ari's hair, Ari felt like a normal little girl who was the pride and joy of her mother.

Remaining droplets leaked from between her fingers, and Ari let go of the tail, wiping her hand on her knee-length breeches.

From a distance, she could see someone cutting an angled but nearly-direct path to her. She squinted to try and see who it was. As Sal came closer to her, Ari hoped that he, too, would not inquire if she was feeling well.

"'Lo," she said, trying to sound casual. Sal's head whipped towards her, his eyes displaying shock, as though he honestly hadn't seen her until that moment. Ari lifted an eyebrow. And she thought _she_ was bothered lately.

As if pulled against his will by strings, Sal came to stand right in front of Ari. She had to look up to see his face, and when she did she frowned. Against her better judgment, she asked, "Sal, are you alright?"

He took a deep breath, and moved to sit down beside her. Ari grimaced as Sal practically slid down the tree to sit next to her. She felt sad for the poor tunic he'd probably just ruined.

Not noticing that anything was amiss, he sat next to her as he had in times past, though he was much quieter than he'd ever been before (Lael having once accused him of being one of the most talkative people in the Collegium).

Not wanting to ask him again whether or not he was feeling well, Ari kept silent; though she'd rather he let her know if something was on his mind, she understood and respected his right to privacy – after all, that's what she'd been desperately craving of late. So they sat in silence.

Ari began toying with her hair again, and Sal took out his dagger and began to fiddle with it, something still clearly on his mind. Ari was about to break her silent promise to herself not to ask again when she noticed the design of the blade in his hands.

"C'n I see that, Sal?" Ari asked cautiously.

"Hmm? Oh, sure." He relented the object carefully, just as Ari had done when letting Tanbal and Devissa see hers several days before.

"Is this a Companion?" she choked. Sal looked at her very seriously, but Ari couldn't place the look; for all she knew, he was thinking about how pronounced the dark circles were under her eyes.

"Yeah."

"Where – where'd ya get it from?" she asked, intensely studying the dagger. She itched to pull out her own and compare the two. In many ways, they were almost identical. But Ari knew every inch of hers, and some of the swirl patters near the Companion in hers weren't in the right place in Sal's. _Free-formed_ was the phrase Devissa had used.

"Father made it for me 'round about the time Mother died when I was seven. Took up making weapons for a bit, to get his mind off it, I suppose."

Sal rested his head against the tree and closed his eyes. Ari felt 'Nori paying very close attention to what was happening, not speaking a word.

Ari did what she could to control her shaking hand as she nudged Sal to take his weapon back.

"Did he ev'r make more? I wouldn' mind havin' somethin' so special-lookin'," she explained hastily.

Sal, having put up the dagger, looked at Ari again, thoughts playing through his head that she doubted he'd share with her. She looked away, unable to look him in the eye with her own heavy thoughts in her head.

"He said he only ever made two. One, he gave to me. The other…well, he never told me what _did_ happen to it. Said he must have lost it."

Ari's heart thudded painfully in her chest.

"Guess he wouldn' wanna try t' make a new one for me, eh?" she asked weakly.

"You should ask him," he told her rather emphatically. Ari nodded noncommittally, too disturbed to notice his jumpier tone. In the distance, the bell tolled the hour for dinner. Sal rose, and Ari followed suit.

"Join Father and me in his rooms for dinner?" Sal asked in an almost-strangled voice. Ari began nervously tapping on her own blade at her left side, her gaze never straying to the man standing beside her.

"Maybe t'morrow? I gotta see t' Danny 'bout somethin' first, an' it might take a bit." She didn't look Sal in the eye as she said this, already "looking" for her coz with her mind.

"Sure, sure," Sal relented easily. Awkwardly, he put his hand on her shoulder. He'd made the same gesture hundreds of times before, but Ari felt as though his hand sat more heavily than it normally did, squeezed a little tighter.

And then he was off, jogging to Pellam's rooms, the back of his shirt a little worse for wear.

Ari backed up the few inches to the tree and leaned heavily against it. Her breath hitched as she sighed.

She spent several minutes replaying the information she'd gotten from Sal.

There was only one conclusion she could come to.

* * *

Ari speed-walked into the dining hall, spotting Danny's tall form easily among her group of friends. He looked up as she walked over, concern on his features.

"Ari?" he asked.

She tugged on his shirt, trying to get him to come with her without actually asking him. She thought that if she had to ask, she'd either burst into tears or do something else equally as embarrassing. Their friends looked at Ari as though she might be ill or upset, as they had been doing for several days. They'd all outright asked what was wrong, but Ari refused to relent and tell them anything just yet.

Feeling the tension surrounding her, Danny stood, saluting the others as he let Ari tow him out of the room. But she didn't let go, even when they had passed through the doors leading outside, headed towards Companion's Field. There they met up with Nienori, who automatically gestured to Ari to let Danny go, and Ari did so without looking at either of them.

"Lass? Wha's goin' on?"

Nienori nudged Ari, still not commenting on what had happened with Sal. And just as it had been too much to explain what had happened with her ma, it was too hard to explain what had just occurred. Taking Danny's hand, she replayed everything, pulling away when the memory finished.

Danny's eyes were wide.

"D'ya know wha' this _means_?" he whispered.

Ari leaned against the fence post, gripping the wood tightly.

"Yeah," she said, looking straight ahead. "Means my ma stole th' other dagger from Her'ld Pellam an' then said she got it from my da. Prob'ly ov'rheard him talkin' with a friend 'bout the one he made for his son, an' thought it a good story to pull ov'r on her own kid to try an' confuse her when she got t' be older."

Danny looked at Ari incredulously. For the first time she could remember, Danny asked, "Are ye thick in the _head_, lass?"

'Nori tucked Ari's shoulder between her head and neck, still silent and listening.

"What?" she asked in surprise, turning her head to look over Nienori's skull and at her cousin.

"Ye heard me. There ain't _no_ _way_ tha' _that's_ wha' happ'ned. Ev'n afore ye was born, I doubt yer ma had any sense 'bout her. Ain't no way she coulda come up wit' such a gran' plan. An' why would she?"

Letting go of the fence, Ari began running her hands over Nienori's nose to soothe herself. What Danny was suggesting, the thing Ari had kept herself from suspecting, was impossible. Because he was ultimately hinting that…

…that Herald _Pellam_ was her father.

And _that_ just _couldn't_ be true.

She shook her head violently, focusing on 'Nori's pristine coat, and the pattern she was tracing down it – forehead to nose tip, back again; forehead to nose tip, back again. If she lost focus of that for even a moment, the pressure that was waiting just behind her eyes would flood everything.

"It's not true," she told him in as monotone a voice as she could scrounge up.

"Well, why not?" Danny asked her logically.

And that was the question. _Why not?_ Why couldn't it be? Why couldn't Pellam, the man whom Ari had secretly regarded as her father since that first game of _Ship and Shore_, be Ari's father?

Flashes of comparison between Ari's life before being Chosen and Pellam's probable life before Ari's birth played out in her head. Things didn't add up, they _couldn't_ add up. Ari wasn't that great with sums, but even she knew this simple math equation. A well-off Herald with a son, and a deceased wife whom he'd been absolutely faithful to just goes off and couples with _her_ ma, a woman with about as much sense as a cooking pot?

Of everything she could have said, all the reasoning she had gone through, there was only one thought that came out:

"It's too good to be true," she whispered.

Danny looked at her sadly, in total understanding.

"Ye can't allow yerself t' hope, can ye?"

Ari's pattern on 'Nori's nose was broken, and now she wrapped her arms around the Companion's head, taking a deep breath.

The answer was that, no, she _couldn't_ allow herself to hope. What if she did, and it turned out to be naught? What if she built everything up only to find out her father _wasn't_ Pellam, and was just someone less than him – someone who couldn't cook, and someone who didn't care about how her classes were going, and someone who thought that she was worthless, Companion or no Companion?

If she allowed herself to hope, and then that hope turned around to bite her, she would never want to look at Pellam as a father again. And it didn't make sense to her, but that was how she felt; that if the illusion was broken, even for a brief moment, it could never be repaired.

After hours without a word, Nienori broke her listening silence. And for the first time since Ari's birthday the previous year, she allowed someone other than Ari to listen to her.

_:Several months ago, I was in the stables when Pellam and his old friend came in talking. At one point, the other man asked Pellam if you were his daughter, the way Pellam always goes on about you. He even said that the two of you looked just alike – same crow-black hair, same shape and color of your eyes…:_

Ari listened in wonder, and began to think. She and Pellam really _did_ look similar. And it wasn't just those things. It was the way they both sat in a chair, relaxed but ready to spring up for whatever reason. It was the way they both ate their bread, tearing off the crust to eat first, and the softer middle for last. And it was the way he'd said "_either that or she's a prodigy, like your old man over here_" the first time she, Pellam, and Sal had played _Ship and Shore_ together.

She tried to clamp down on the hopes forcing their way through her system. _Where arrows won't kill you, hope will, _she'd once read.

"'Nori?" Ari asked her Companion. "Do _you_ know somethin' we don't?"

Ari had pulled away from Nienori's neck, and now looked her in one of her bright blue eyes.

_:No,: _she told them both, _:but I've had my suspicions for a while now. I've waited to see if you would come to the same conclusions I have.:_

"Why?" Ari asked plaintively.

_:I like you to figure these things out for yourself. What if you didn't have me?:_

Danny stepped around to Ari's other side and put an arm over her shoulders.

None of them spoke after that.

* * *

Following the solemn rendezvous, Ari told Danny that she really wasn't hungry, and that he should go on and eat without her. Knowing that their friends would ask what had gone on, she told Danny to say that she would talk about it in her own time. That would suffice for the time being.

With every step, she came shakily closer to Pellam's rooms. Nienori thought she was being a tad bit ridiculous with what she had planned, but Ari ignored her, focusing instead on what she was going to say.

She didn't know how long it took her to figure out that she was already in front of the door. Her heart sped up, and she almost turned around. Before she could, she knocked on the door, not giving herself enough time to back down.

Pellam answered, and upon seeing her, gave her the same sort of heavy look Sal had earlier.

"Ari!" he said, his voice even sounding surprised. From within, she could hear Sal quiet in whatever he'd been doing. "Come in, come in."

"Er…" she tried to protest smartly. But Pellam was gesticulating so wildly, that Ari felt it might be safer to be inside the room for this.

Sal stood stock-still behind one of the couches in the sitting room, his hands grasping the back of it viciously.

"So what brings you by?" Pellam asked, gesturing for her to take a seat on the couch Sal was at. Ari did so, but sat along the edge nervously, not allowing herself to get comfortable. She also sat so that she could see Sal more easily, as he had refused to sit down as Pellam had on the couch across from Ari.

"I…I'm here t' return somethin'," she said, and she began rubbing her hands along her breeches. From the corner of her eye, she saw Sal pale, but couldn't imagine why.

Pellam frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Taking a deep breath, Ari slid the knife, still in its sheath, from her belt. Grasping it tightly one last time, she handed it over to Pellam, who took the weapon quietly.

"Where did you get this?" he asked in a voice just as subdued as his actions.

"I think…" Ari had to swallow before getting the rest of the thought out of her mind. "I think my ma stole this from ya before I was born. An' I'm returnin' it now."

Sal finally moved from his spot behind the sofa, towards Pellam and the blade. Pellam was staring at the dagger as though it had answered a fatal question for him.

Sal, still looking at the dagger wondrously said, "You had that with you the day you came here."

Ari nodded even though the two weren't looking at her.

"Ari," Pellam said. She said straighter in her seat, ready for him to tell her he didn't associate with the children of thieves. "Why do you think your mother stole this from me?"

Ari licked her lips, a trait so uncommon to her she momentarily forgot the question. Regaining her mental footing, she answered belatedly, "Because I saw Sal's dagger today, an' I asked him 'bout it. He said that you'd made two, years ago. An' seein' as how he has one, an' I have th' other, I realized my ma musta stolen it."

"And why would she do something like that?" Pellam asked her pointedly.

Ari sighed. "She ain't right in the head, never was, I think. I wouldn' put it past her t' steal somethin' an' then say…things."

"What sort of things?" Sal asked before Pellam could. Ari looked at her hands, her face flushing.

"She tol' me b'fore she left that my da'd given that t' her as a gift. But th' way I see it, she prob'ly ov'rheard ya, Pellam, talkin' t' someone 'bout giving the other t' Sal, and knicked the one I have…had…an' tol' the same story 'bout givin' it."

"When you say 'not right in the head,' how do you mean?" Sal pressed.

Shame chased through Ari, and she decided to make these two the next to know about what had happened.

"She used ta just be loopy, but…a few days ago, I was havin' a visit with Lael an'…an' she was in th' room, jus' like that. After all these years, she came _back_, babblin' worse than b'fore about bein' a family, and other such nonsense. She's worse'n when she left."

Ari looked up, and both of them were staring at her, faces shocked. Thinking it was because of her revelation, she said, "Like I said, I'm sorry, Pellam."

Swiftly, Ari stood, and was halfway to the door before Pellam rose to stop her.

"Ari." She'd reached the door, and her hand rested on the handle. She didn't look back, afraid both of them would try to comfort her, or apologize for her mother being the way she was.

"Ari," Pellam said again. This time, she turned, keeping her hand on the handle, her back against the door. Pellam held the dagger out to her.

"It's yours," he said decisively.

She shook her head. He sighed, and took her free hand, her left, placing the sheathed knife into her palm and closing her fingers over it.

"It's yours by right," he said huskily. Ari frowned, looking away and to Sal, who was looking directly at Ari.

"Whaddya mean?" she asked Pellam.

"Several days ago, one of the Healers wrote to me, telling me that a woman had come in asking for me."

Turning her head, Ari looked at Pellam. Some deep well of emotion stirred in Ari, but she forced it quiet.

"When I saw her, I didn't recognize her at first. I hadn't seen her in fifteen years."

Ari wished she could turn her head away, but she couldn't, and Pellam's eyes focused intensely on her.

"I hadn't heard the name Vercy Mechmala in a very long time." With that, Ari closed her eyes and began chanting to herself, _he knew her, but he ain't my da, she still stole the knife or he gave it to her as a friend._

"The last time I saw her," he said gently, "I had to leave for the border. And I was very afraid that she wouldn't take it well. So, I left her a note…and the dagger you're holding."

Ari bowed her head, her eyes beginning to burn. _He'll tell me they were only friends, they weren' involved, only friends, nothin' more._

"If I'd known she was with child, my child, I would never have left."

The hand that was on the doorknob became flew quickly to the dagger she held, and she began twisting at the sheath desperately. She shook her head, fighting back tears. She was forever crying over _something_, she thought. But this couldn't be true, it could never be true.

Only when Sal asked "Why's it not true?" did Ari realize that she'd said anything aloud at all.

She couldn't bear to look up at either of them, and shut her eyes tightly. And just as she'd told Danny earlier, she told the both of them now:

"It's too _good_ to be true."

She felt hands on her shoulders. She felt Nienori, a quiet presence this entire time, make herself known.

_:Look up, Ari, just look up!:_

Breathing in sharply, Ari looked up at Pellam.

"You'd have to be duller than _this_ old man not to see how alike you and I – and Sal – are. Ari… you're my blood."

And then the well of emotion that had been boiling and threatening to rise up overflowed, and Ari put her hands over Pellam's on her shoulders, her left done so awkwardly, as she still had the dagger in hand.

She finally accepted it, the hope she had suppressed. She was about to say something, but as she opened her mouth, all that came out was a humiliating sort of mewling.

Laughing, Pellam lifted Ari into a lighter version of the bear hug she had seen him give Sal the day she met him. After what seemed like minutes, he put her down, only for her to be swept up by Sal, who had been waiting patiently for his turn.

"Now I have the right to torment someone!" he told her teasingly, and she laughed though still crying.

Thinking back, Ari remembered the wish she'd made on her birthday the year before; she'd had no idea of what to wish for, having everything already. So she's asked for something impossible.

Who knew that wishing for a da – in spite of having nothing to wish for – would come true?

Ari felt Nienori lift her hooves in celebration, and she laughed again.

_:This year, you should wish for a handsome Companion for me!:_

* * *

AN: Sort of a cheesy ending for this chapter, but it seems deserved!

I can't believe I typed this one up so fast. Hopefully I can do the same for tomorrow. And since I'm on a roll, it seems only right that I should continue to do so, school be damned.

Also, thank goodness for chapter summaries! (Even though the one I had for this one doesn't match up at all with the end product, but there you have it.)

Playlist:

Well, this is embarrassing. I don't really have a playlist for this chapter :S So, for lack of much I suggest:

"Signal Fire" – Snow Patrol

And, to give you two, if you're seriously desperate for music for this, pretend I suggested

"Daughters" – John Mayer

^Doesn't quite match up (and I think that while the song is okay, the artist isn't my favorite person; at least it's something)


End file.
